DOHA: India signed off the AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers campaign in style, having overpowered Turkmenistan by a whopping margin of 3-1 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha tonight (July 23, 2017).

 

Having conceded in the 13th minute, India made a strong comeback in the first-half three minutes to the end of the final whistle when Manvir Singh netted the equaliser. Alen Deory and Jerry Lalrinzuala scored within four minutes to stage their first victory in the tournament.

 

India finished their campaign with 3 points from 3 matches, behind Qatar and Syria who will lock their horns later tonight.

 

India started today where they left against Qatar the other day. Flurry of attacks in the first 10 minutes, getting closer to scoring their opening goal in the tournament, keeping the enthusiast Indian supporters on the edge of the seats- everything were dished out subtly by the boys clad in their usual blue outfit in their final match of the AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha today (July 23, 2017).

 

India snatched their first corner in the 4th minute of the match but Anirudh’s long corner came a bit too heavier for Sarthak.

 

Lallianzuala caused to wreck havoc from the left flank but his cutting-edge deliveries couldn’t have been utilised properly by Hitesh Sharma.

 

Meanwhile, Davinder Singh conceded a free-kick at the top of the box in the 13th minute and Hojovov Hoshgeldi, from the free-kick, stunned the Indian outfit to pull off a stunner against the run of the play.

 

The goal seemed to have reignited the boys’ zeal to make a comeback in the match. Zuala took on his own but his blasting left-footer missed the target by an inch or two in the next minute.

 

Indians tightened the screw to threaten the Turkmenistan defence more often but the opposition defenders stood tall between them and the equaliser.

 

In the 42nd minute, Manvir Singh tapped down a long ball which had his name written on it to finally get past the Turkmenistan goalie who maintained a clean sheet against Syria in their last match.

 

The boys headed to the changing room locked at a 1-1 scoreline.

 

After the resumption, Stephen’s boys started to press more to get onto the driver’s seat but they had to wait until the super-sub Alen Deory found the back of the net in the 72nd minute.

 

Manvir and Nikhil built on an exquisite counter-attack to finally find Alen, who replaced Hitesh Sharma four minutes before, to do the damage work to send the 200-odd Indian supporters into a delirium.

 

Indians were at the top of their game and they didn’t need to wait long to double the lead. Nikhil earned a free-kick at the top of the Turkmenistan box which was wrongly handed by a defender inside the box. The referee didn’t think twice to award the Indians a penalty.

 

Jerry Lalrinzuala came forward to shoulder the duty and clobbered India’s third goal in style to take the game away from the oppositions.

 

Till the final whistle, Indians were able to hold their nerves to leave the ground holding their heads high.

 

India: Vishal Kaith (GK), Davinder Singh, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Salam Ranjan Singh (C), Sarthak Golui, Anirudh Thapa (Robinson Singh 90′), Germanpreet Singh, Lallianzuala Chhangte (Nandha Kumar 80′), Nikhil Poojary, Hitesh Sharma (Alen Deory 68′), Manvir Singhanvir

DOHA, JULY 20, 2017: Despite going down by two second-half goals against Syria U23 team in the first match of the AFC U23 Championship Qualifiers, India’s U-23 boys, most of whom would be playing their fourth international match at this level tomorrow (July 21, 2017), draw inspiration from the praise bestowed on them by Syrian U23 coach Hussain Afash.

Syrian coach Hussain Afash lavished huge praise on the boys in Blue.

“In actual facts, Indians pressed us very hard in the first half and they were playing manoeuvring football. In the second half, they conceded two goals but I must say, they got under our skin and these boys are definitely going to have a great future ahead,” he had certified.

India have little time left to recover as they’re scheduled to clash their horns with hosts Qatar at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha in next 24 hours.

Meanwhile, the hosts outplayed Turkmenistan to secure a 2-0 victory in their first match.

Head Coach Stephen Constantine applauded the Qatar U23 team saying they are ”very quick.”

“They look very quick at times. They have an utmost quality I must say. It’ll be a big challenge for us against them,” he stated.

Stephen also didn’t mince his words praising his boys for their display in the first match of the Qualifiers.

The British coach said:  “The boys played their heart out but eventually, the lack of experience cost us the match.”

Although some of his boys had a standout performance tonight, he emphasised on the ‘team game.’

“Some of the boys might have had a good game but I believe this is a team game where everyone needs to perform and they’ve had a great team effort tonight. We’ll take it forward to the next game,” he declared.

On being asked whether Qatar’s superlative performance in the AFC U23 Championship 2016 would impose a mental block to his boys, he pointed out that ‘it’s not the same team anymore.’

“A lot of players from that batch might have graduated to the senior team. Their main advantage is that they’re having the same coach throughout.”

“Playing a late evening match, that too at their home is really going to be advantageous for them”, he added.

Meanwhile, a decent number of supporters, clad in the Tricolour, were present in the stands to cheer for the youngsters.

“When you’re playing at this stage, you want the stadium to be full. It keeps the adrenaline flowing amongst the players. Personally, I hope a good number of Indians will turn out in our support tomorrow.”

The kick-off against Qatar is at 10:30 PM IST.

DOHA: India U-23 went down fighting two-nil to Syria U-23 in their opening encounter of the AFC U23 Championship China 2018 Qualifiers opener at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha on Wednesday (July 19, 2017). Both Teams were locked goalless at the interval.

 

The U-23 boys next play hosts and group favourites Qatar U-23 in their next match on Friday (July 21).

 

India began on a cautious note and pressed hard in their effort to unsettle the physically superior Syrians. The first chance of the day fell to striker Daniel Lalhlimpuia but the ex-AIFF Academy cadet could not make the most of the opportunity.

 

Nikhil Poojary on the right flank kept the rival defence busy with his incisive crosses, as the Indian midfield preferred to rotate from one side to the other.

 

The high point for India came in the 37^th minute when a string of passes found the tireless Germanpreet Singh in the clear but his prompt right-footer rebounded off the post for a corner.

 

The resultant corner, a long one from Anirudh Thapa was met by Nishu Kumar from the top of the box but it missed by a whisker as both teams headed to the interval locked goalless.

 

Changing over, striker Manvir Singh came close to scoring the opener but his header landed safely into the Syrian goalkeeper’s gloves.

 

As the game neared the hour-mark, Indians appeared to lose the plot a bit — skipper Lalruatthara and Nishu Kumar going into the referee’s book for challenges.

 

Syria went ahead in the 64^th minute — striker Rabie Srour lobbing it over Goalkeeper Vishal Kaith who was caught out of position – central defender Salam Ranjan Singh’s valiant attempt to keep off the lob not being successful.

 

India’s first substitution came in the 72^nd minute – Hitesh Sharma coming in for Daniel. Head Coach Stephen Constantine followed it up with a double substitution in the 81^st minute – Sarthak Golui and Robinson Singh coming in for Lalruatthara and Anirudh Thapa respectively.

 

Three minutes later, Nikhil Poojary powered another cross from the right flank but it Hitesh mistimed his leap to find the elusive equaliser.

 

Syria sealed the fate of the match in the 88^th minute — Fares Arnaout doubling the score for them.

 

INDIA: Vishal Kaith, Nishu Kumar, Jerry Lalrinzuala, Lalruatthara (C) (Sartha Golui 81′), Salam Ranjan Singh, Germanpreet Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Nandha Kumar, Anirudh Thapa (Robinson Singh 81′), Daniel Lalhlimpuia (Hitesh Sharma 72′), Manvir Singh.