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India 1 (Samar Ishaq OG 14)
Pakistan 0
India: Subrata Pal; Nirmal Chettri, Gouramangi Singh, Arnab Mondal, Nallappan Mohanraj (Syed Rahim Nabi 65); Francis Fernandes, Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues, Jeje Lalpekhlua; Alwyn George (Jewel Raja 46); Sunil Chhetri.
Pakistan: Yousuf Butt; Samar Ishaq, Zesh Rehman, Kamran Khan (Saddam Hussein 33), Muhammad Ahmed; Mohammad Adil, Adnan Ahmed, Faisal Iqbal, Muhammad Riaz (Mohammed Mujahid 69); Kaleemullah (Ashanullah 87), Hassan Bashir.
Defending champions India edged past arch-rivals Pakistan 1-0 to make a winning start to their SAFF Championship 2013 campaign in Kathmandu, Nepal. India went in front fortunately thanks to an own goal from Pakistan skipper Samar Ishaq and the record six-time winners held on to their advantage at the half-time break despite being outplayed.
Wim Koevermans’ side produced an improved showing in the second half and could have won by more had skipper Sunil Chhetri not been wasteful. So after the first round of games in Group A, India and Nepal have three points each while Bangladesh and Pakistan have none.
There were some surprises in the starting lineups of both sides as reigning AIFF player of the year Syed Rahim Nabi was named on the bench with Nallappan Mohanraj starting at left back despite hardly playing for the last 24 months. Koevermans opted for a 4-4-1-1 again but youngster Alwyn George got a start ahead of Jewel Raja with Jeje Lalpekhlua in left midfield.
Pakistan’s new Bahrainian coaching consultant Mohammed Shamlan and coach Shahzad Anwar decided to start without Denmark-based full back Yacoob Butt while the highly rated Kaleemullah started alongside Hassan Bashir upfront in a 4-4-2 system. Former Fulham defender Zesh Rehman started in a defensive midfield role.
India began the game strongly winning a succession of corners but were not threatening to score with Zesh clearing away any aerial ball.
However Koevermans’ side went in front without breaking a sweat as a harmless cross from Nirmal Chettri was cleared by central defender Kamran Khan but it took a deflection off Pakistan skipper Samar Ishaq and went into the back of the net. Kamran panicked while clearing a routine cross as Pakistan paid the price.
The response from Pakistan was excellent and India could have easily been reduced to ten when Subrata Pal came a long way out of his goal to foul Hassan Bashir. India’s number one was only booked possibly because Bashir was going away from goal but such instances have produced sending offs in the past.
India were struggling to have any spell of possession as Pakistan grew in confidence and had another dangerous attack when Mohammed Adil and Bashir combined to set up a chance for Mohammed Riaz, whose effort was off target.
As the half progressed, Pakistan recognised India’s weakness on the left flank as Jeje was looking uncomfortable in an unfamiliar left midfield role while Mohanraj as expected to looked unfit.
Pakistan also switched from a 4-4-2 to a 4-1-4-1 to allow Kaleemullah to join Adnan Ahmed and dominate the midfield. However the green shirts did have a nervous moment when their Denmark-based goalkeeper Yousef Butt almost handled the ball outside the box.
Shamlan made another tactical change as midfielder Saddam Hussein replaced defender Kamran which allowed Zesh to drop back in central defence.
India were not providing any attacking threat although Alywn George did have a half chance but couldn’t hit the target from just outside the box.
Pakistan completely exposed India in the final stages of the first half and could have easily scored a couple of goals. First Bashir hit the post after some great work by Adil on the right flank and then Kaleemullah was denied by Subrata despite looking favourite to score.
Bashir’s movement was giving India’s defence plenty of problems but Pakistan ended the half by wasting another decent chance as they only found the side netting while Kaleemullah was denied by a last-ditch tackle from Gouramangi Singh.
Koevermans made a change at the interval as Jewel Raja replaced Alywn but there was no change in tactics as they continued to operate in a 4-4-1-1 with Jewel now supporting Sunil.
Mohanraj continued to look clueless at left back with Adil consistently going past him easily. The Pakistan right winger could have had an assist when he produced a teasing cross into the box but Bashir headed wide.
Minutes later, Adil dribbled past Mohanraj again and also went past Arnab Mondal but India somehow survived.
Those two attacks saw Koevermans finally take off Mohanraj and bring on Nabi and that substitution coincided with India’s improvement. The holders started keeping their shape better and created plenty of chances.
Skipper Sunil had plenty of opportunities to finish the game off as he finally started combining with Jeje but the best chances came from counter attacks. The 29-year-old India captain got into one-on-one situations with the Pakistan goalkeeper on three occasions but failed to hit the target each time while on two other instances produced routine saves off Butt.
India survived the opening game blues despite a dismal first half showing but an improved second half display should give Koevermans and fans back home hope for the rest of the tournament.
Watch the highlights of the match here:
