#2 Inspired substitution changes the game
Stephen Constantine should be praised for taking the bull by the horn and not sitting back as India absorbed wave after wave of Laos attacks. The Englishman took the bold decision of taking off Udanta Singh who look fervent in the early goings-on but seemed too intent on doing it all himself.
With India looking clueless and particularly overwhelmed at the middle of the park, the introduction of Jackichand Singh in the 41st minute seemed like an innocuous one, but it paid dividends within two minutes of his introduction. With nearly his first touch of the game, Jackichand fired in a cross from the right wing which found Jeje Lalpekhlua, who made no mistake in scoring his second goal of the tie.
Jackichand’s energy and perseverance seemed to have rubbed off on his teammates as India suddenly started looking dangerous with every attack. One minute into first half injury time, Jackichand again vindicated Constantine’s move as he popped up on the left this time, to rifle across a low cross into the box as which Sumit Passi tapped in with glee for a goal on his debut.
India never looked back from there.
