A shocking penalty miss by the Turkmenistan captain and an early Indian goal. It appeared to be India’s day in the World Cup football qualifier at the Nehru Stadium here on Saturday. But in the end, it was Turkmenistan which walked away a 2-1 winner — same scoreline from the last time these two teams met at Ashgabat in October.
With its chances of qualifying for the World Cup qualifiers’ next phase over, the touring side had left eight of its leading players back home and it showed in the opening session of its game in the hot and humid conditions.
Turkmenistan could have easily taken the lead in the 20th minute when it earned a penalty after defender Pritam Kotal brought down its captain Amanov Arslan inside the box. But Arslan messed it, shooting wide.
India took the lead a few minutes after that, Sandesh Jhingan heading in a Narayan Das freekick but with less than a thousand fans at the stadium, the big roar was clearly missing.
A little after the half hour mark, Rowlin Borges failed to connect a lovely aerial pass from the young Udanta Singh, who looked enterprising on the right while Pronay Halder was the midfield general, stitching together some nice moves.
Jeje kept on a tight leashMeanwhile, skipper Jeje, who had scored for India in the away game in October, was kept on a tight leash by the Turkmenistan defenders Babajanov Zafar and Saparov Mekan.
The home side and its goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh suffered some anxious moments just before the break when Astanov’s curling longranger appeared to be on target before just going over.
The visitors struck the equaliser soon after the break and this was a session when they came up with a bit of a strategy change. Captain Arslan made amends for the missed penalty and headed in Durdiyev Didar’s perfect cross. Goalkeeper Gurpreet, who was out of position, could do nothing.
The Turkmens had been trying to break in through the right for a good part of the first half and the equaliser saw them come out stronger. They appeared faster and now there were a number of dangerous moves through the centre but still, it did not end in goals. One such move saw Kotal denying Arslan smartly.
Substitute Atayev Serdarali, who had come in for Orazov Suleyman at the start of the second half, gave the touring side the lead.
As he moved into the box, goalkeeper Gurpreet rushed out as did a defender. But Atayev waited for a second, as the goalkeeper and defender virtually froze, before tapping in an angled shot.
Substitute Seityasen Singh raised hopes in the home camp around the 80th minute with a longranger from the right that appeared to dip in dangerously but goalkeeper Orazmuhamedov Mamed tipped away the danger.
The three points saw Turkmenistan stay on the third spot at the end of the second round in the five-team Group D while India finished at the bottom with three points from eight games.
The result:
Turkmenistan 2 (Amanov Arslan 49, Atayev Serdarali 70) bt India 1 (Sandesh Jhingan 26).
