New Delhi: Before the tournament Wim Koevarmans and his boys decided not to read too much into the rankings and make a big deal of it and it exactly turned out to be that.
India ranked 168 took on a much higher ranked team Cameroon 59, but they defied all odds and underdogs tag to lift the Nehru Cup for the third consecutive times after 2007 and 2009 when they had won it under the tutelage of Bob Houghton.
The score was tied 2-2 after the extra time and the match had to be decided through tie-breaker. It was a reminiscent from 2009 when Subrata Paul saved the day for India. He again took guard and even though he did not do much, the result however stays same. India won the match 5-4 on penalties.
After both the teams converted four of their spot kicks, it was down to Clifford Miranda and experienced midfielder slotted the ball in the left corner of the nets.
India having converted all their chances, Makon Thierry came to take the last shot and pressure got the better off him as his shot hit the right post to send a strong 15000+ crowd go berserk as they charged into the field of the play to congratulate the heroes.
The tournament, which was not able to attract crowd throughout, however saw the full 1st tier of this humongous stadium getting filled. The second tier was kept shut and was not open for spectators.
Starting the match, the hosts made their intent clear right from the word go and began on a rather attacking note to threaten the Cameroon defence on more than couple of occasions.
In the 12th minute skipper Sunil Chhetri came close to putting India ahead after he collected a pass from Lenny Rodriguez and fired a long ranger, but custodian Ngome Lawrence averted the danger.
Two minutes later, Sanju Pradhan floated one for Chhetri who out-jumped Moundi Gustave but his header was off the mark.
Cameroon did try to make inroads but failed in their endeavours.
19 minutes into the match, the Men In Blue drew the first blood of the match after Gourmangi Singh standing clearly unmarked in the box buried the ball into the net with a header from Clifford Miranda’s free-kick from the right.
Conceding a goal was not it as more misery was awaiting Cameroon. Gourmangi while taking the header collided into custodian Lawrence who had to leave the field to receive medical attention.
But the Indomitable Lions recovered well and 10 minutes later pulled off the equaliser after Raju Gaikwad’s erroneous clearance laid the ball for Makon Thierry who fired in a powerful right footer to find the back of the net.
The goal saw the momentum of the game shifting towards Cameroon and they were forging ahead and India had to most of the time depend on their counter attack lead by Syed Rahim Nabi’s breath-taking overlapping runs.
There were some tense moments in the match but both the teams were lucky not to concede further. The teams went into the break with the score-line deadlocked at 1-1.
After the change of ends, both the teams came out strongly trying to force their way into the game.
In the 54th minute of the match, the Indomitable Lions however took the game by the scruff of their neck and took the lead with a precision header by Kingue Mpondo off a Makon Thierry’s corner.
Down by a goal, two times defending champions denied to give in and responded with counter attacks.
With just over 10 minutes left for game, against all odds India was awarded a penalty after Chhetri barged into the box receiving a through ball from Mehtab Hossain. The skipper did not make any mistake and converted from the spot to find the nets.
Both the teams toiled hard to inflict more blows but none of the teams could get any success even as the match went into the extra time.
It was decided on the penalty shoot-out. It was Robin Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Denzil Franco, Mehtab Hossain and Clifford Miranda converted from the spot, whereas for Cameroon Ashu Tambe, Ousmila Baba, Paul Roland, Kingue Mpondo found the nets for them. Makon Thierry missed for them.
The win impressed AIFF president Praful Patel so much that he doubled the prize money from 100,000$ to 200,000$.
By Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News Network
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