New Delhi: Cometh the hour, cometh the man! Led from the front by Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri, India started Wim Koevarmans’ era on a bright note as they registered an inspiring if not convincing 2-1 win over Syria in the tournament opener of the Nehru Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.
Lot was at stake for the hosts and the two times defending champions when took on the second string Syria but they responded well to live up to their Dutch coach’s expectations.
Sunil Chhetri opened up the lead for India and Anthony Pereira doubled up the tally in the 84th minute. Syria pulled up one just ahead of the final hooter through Alaa Alshbbli.
The match started off at a dull note as neither teams could exert any early pressure and the first attempt at the goal was unleashed by Sunil Chhetri in the 10th minute when his shot landed wide.
India initially stuck on their new strategy of total football and were seen passing the ball well but then lack of co-ordination prevented them from making any good moves.
Syria got a real chance of going ahead in the 26th minute when Altayar had an open goal to aim at after he beat full back Raju Gaikwad and Subrata Paul but then his shot landed wide of the post.
Syria was making continuous strides and most of the times it was Gaikwad’s erroneous play which put India in dangerous situations.
Just past the half hour mark the skies opened up and it started pouring torrentially and the match had to be stopped due to lack of visibility. The match resumed after 15 minutes and the pitch was never the same again.
After resumption Syria came close to scoring on couple of occasions but it was Subrata’s acrobatic goalkeeping that kept India out of danger.
Just when it looked like the teams would go into the break with no goals India went ahead as Chhetri’s header off a brilliant Clifford Miranda’s cross from the right found the far corner of the net.
After the change of ends, waterlogged problem seemed to have taken the toll as none of the teams could make any moves.
However six minutes into the second half, Syria got a real good chance but then Mardek Mardikian foiled it as he missed his footing.
With both the teams with an aim to avoid ball from getting stuck on the pitch played in the air and did see some good chances being made, but lack of good finishing saw them go abegging.
Into the last few minutes of the match, a Lenny Rodrigues cross to Anthony Periera saw him dodging Syrian defender and unleash a curling left footer from outside the box took a deflection off the cross to crash into the far corner of the net.
With match virtually in India’s kitty, the hosts employed a defensive strategy and kept the ball to themselves but a header by Alshbbli from within the box off a Ouday Abduljaffal' free kick in the dying moments of the match saw Syria pull back a consolation goal.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhary
Indian Sports News
