New Delhi: Defending Champions India could not start their title defence on the expected lines as they were held 1-1 by a spirited Afghanistan in their opening match of the SAFF Championship 2011 played here at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. India who entered the tournament as favorites could not live up to the tag and looked very feeble and detached. Had it not been due for striker Sunil Chettri who pulled off the equalizer for India, the result could have been even more disappointing.
It was anticipated that the contest would be a cakewalk for the five times winner India, as they were taking on Afghanistan placed 178th, the lowest ranked team in the tournament. But it turned to be different that what it seemed before the match. Afghanistan against all the odds, drew the first blood of the match when Balal Arezo came in from the right after he dodged Indian left back Rahim Nabi to fire the ball past India’ custodian Karanjit Singh. Six minutes later India however pulled the equalizer when Sunil Chettri’s header of Steven Dias’ corner found the nets.
Afghanistan launched a series of attack and the striking pair of Arezo and Sanjado Ahmadi kept the Indian defenders on their toes. Their wingers Waheed Ahmad and Mohammed Ashrafi also looked in supreme touch and kept feeding their strikers continuously as compared to India who looked clueless in the midfield. Indian midfielding duo of Climax Lawrence and Clifford Miranda were the culprits for India’s detached midfield as they looked listless and got list amidst their Afghanistani counterparts.
If a detached performance in midfield was not enough, a bad show upfront was there to add on to their woes. Around the half hour mark, India should have taken the lead, a weak shot by Clifford Miranda from the right within the box off a Steven Dias’ rolled straight into the hands of Afghanistan’s goalie.
Afghanistan also got few chances to take the lead, and the closest one came in the 42nd minute when Afghanistan’s skipper Haroon Fakhruddin dribbled past few defenders on the right to set the ball up cleverly for Arezo, but his shot was brilliantly blocked by India’s goalie Karanjit Singh.
After the change of ends, India looked in good touch, but when the stars are against, not good possibly could happen. The hosts should have gone 2-1 in the 52nd minute, but as ill luck would have it, Sunil Chettri missed a sitter from the goal mouth as his left footer was well blocked by Afghani goalie. Chettri again got a chance to give India the lead, but his shot went above the bar.
India’s coach Savio Madeira brought in LalrinDika in place of Steven Dias but could not contribute much as he was not with much. If Sunil was busy missing chances, his striking partner Jeje was looking tired and could hardly make his presence. Jeje who came back from Rangers FC trials did not look his usual self and made only one attempt was foiled by was deflected by Afghanistan’s custodian.
As the match entered the last five minutes, the striking combination of Arezo and Ahmadi looked to torment India’s defence and stretched India’s defence line to the stretch. But nothing could materialize and India were lucky to hold on to a draw.
Savio Madeira, head coach India, after the match looked optimistic and hoped that the performances would improve as the tournament progresses. “There is room for improvement. This was our first match and the team will gel further in the next matches,” he said. “As far as the mid field is concerned, we had a number of lapses but it’s really impossible to play well for the entire 90 minutes,” added Savio.
Afghanistan coach Mohammad Yousef Kargar looked satisfied with the result. “This team is a mixture of young and senior players. Had we got more time to prepare we would have done further well,” he said.
Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News