India beat Turkmenistan
for second win
India registered their second successive victory in the Asian Games football tournament, beating Turkmenistan 3-1 in a crucial Group C league match in Yangsan on Monday.
Trailing by a goal at the breather, the Indians staged a superb rally in the second session and scored thrice to emerge deserving winners.
Vladimir Bariamov put Turkmenistan ahead in the 22nd minute, but two goals in a spell of three minutes in the second session saw India forge ahead.
Skipper Baichung Bhutia drew India abreast in the 54th minute while Abhishek Yadav made it 2-1 in two minutes later.
Bhutia scored again in the 78th minute to put the issue beyond doubt.
India, who had beaten Bangladesh 3-0 in their opening match, have six points from two matches.
It was captain Baichung Bhutia who came to the rescue of the Indians yet again in a fast-paced encounter. He fired in two goals, which took his tournament tally to four.
Turkmenistan are out of the reckoning now, having lost both
their league matches so far. In their first match they had
lost to favourites China.
Desperate to win the match to stay in contention for a
last eight berth, the Indians only had themselves to blame for
conceding the first goal as they appeared a little tentative
in the early stages of the match, allowing their rivals too
much room in the striking zone.
Taking the field with the tag of underdogs, Turkmenistan
left the Indians stunned when the hard-working Bariamov
brilliantly headed home a corner kick in the 22nd minute, giving
no chance at all to Indian custodian Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar, who
otherwise had a good day under the bar.
Thereafter, the Indians were a pale shadow of themselves as Turkmenistan enjoyed territorial advanatage for most part of the 45 minutes.
But the complexion of the game changed in a span of just
two minutes in the second half which saw the Indians not only
get the equaliser through Bhutia but also
take the lead with Yadav finding the target.
The equaliser in the 54the minute was a brilliant effort
from Bhutia, who always looked dangerous despite being tightly
marked, as he ran in and booted the ball following a goalmouth
melee after the Turkemistan custodian failed to collect the
ball cleanly.
Even before the celebrations had died down, the talented
Abhishek, who excelled in the recent LG Cup, put India in the
lead just two minutes later as he placed the ball into the
goal from close range. The rival custodian charged out to foil
the move but a cool Abhishek made no mistake with his
placement.
Bhutia then clinched the issue by scoring the third goal
11 minutes before the long whistle after displaying his dribbling
skills to good effect.
The captain dribbled past a rival defender and slotted in
from inside the box much to the delight of his teammates.
The Indians could have won by a bigger margin had the
forwards not squandered a couple of gilt edged chances that
came their way, particularly in the action-packed second
session.
With two successive victories in the championship, the
Indians have kept themselves in the reckoning for a quarter-
final berth in the 24-team event.
The top teams from each of the six groups will qualify to
the quarter-finals while the two best second-placed teams also make it to the last eight stage.
India play their last league match against China on Thursday.