Hyderabad, Nov 18 (IANS) Indian football fans will have to wait till March for the national men's team to win its first game under Manolo Marquez as the hosts were held to a 1-1 draw against Malaysia at the Gachibowli Stadium here on Monday.
India were finding their feet in the opening moments of the game until Skipper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s early error saw Paulo Josue with a free pass at the goal to hand the visitors the 1-0 lead before Rahul Bheke equalised from a corner taken by Brandon Fernandes, who was awarded the man of the match trophy brought the teams level.
Malaysia's Azam Azmi Murad cleared the ball in the 19th minute of the game which saw goalkeeper Gurpreet rush out in an attempt to clear the ball away. His misjudgment saw the ball reach the feet of the coming Paulo, who made no mistake in what was a simple finish to pull ahead.
India did not stop threatening at the opposition goal from thereon out with a majority of attacks being played out from the wings with Lallianzuala Chhangte acting as the catalyst. The strategy worked out well in the 39th minute when Brandon stepped up to take a corner, won by Chhangte and delivered a delightful ball only for Bheke to nestle the ball into the back of the net.
Malaysia created the better chances in the second 45 minutes but India held their fair share of possession neither side found an opening as the game ended in a 1-1 draw,
The result brought down curtains on a disappointing 2024 for Indian football as the team has not won in its last 12 outings, with their last win coming against Kuwait in November 2023.
"It was good work [overall]. Every goal kick took a minute - the pace was very slow. We didn't adapt to this game - we equalized in a set-piece. It's true they equalized in an action without danger - their last action was dangerous [referring to Tierney's header off the post], but more or less the result was fair.
"We have four months till the next break. The list [squad] will be more clear in the next window - more or less the league will be over," said head coach Manolo Marquez in the post-game interview.
--IANS
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