India trounce Bhutan in football friendly

After a gap of two months, the Indian football team once again took the field today in a friendly match against Bhutan at the Changlimithang Stadium in Thimpu. With many star players away on club duty, Indian coach Stephen Constantine took a relatively young squad to Bhutan. In the absence of Sunil Chhetri, the Indian attack was led by Holicharan Narzary, Sumeet Passi, and Jeje.

India, who are 40 places above Bhutan in the FIFA rankings, dominated the game in the opening forty-five minutes. Bhutan had the opening chance of the match though, and they came close to a goal after the Indian defence was caught out by a long ball from the back. But, striker Chencho Gyeltshen smashed it wide to waste the opportunity, and that proved to be their only real goal scoring opportunity of the half.

India took the lead in the second minute of the match through Sumeet Passi. A throw caught the Bhutan defence in sixes and sevens, and the forward made the most of it by bundling the ball home. India kept up the pressure, and they scored another in the 19th minute, this time, through Jeje. Pronay Halder found Jakichand Singh with a diagonal ball from the midfield, and he flicked it to the far post to find Jeje. Although, he was between two defenders, the striker skipped past them and smashed one in to the left of the goalkeeper for India’s second.

Two minutes later Holicharan Narzary made it 3-0 for the Indians, and it looked like a repeat of the success enjoyed by India in their last match against Laos, where they won 6-1. Pronay Halder was once again the creator, as he found Jeje with a pass from midfield. The forward squared it to Holicharan, and the lanky striker made no mistake from close range. India had more chances in the next 22 minutes to increase the score, but some big clearances from the Bhutan defenders kept the score at 3-0 at the break.

With the match being a friendly, Stephen Constantine made three changes at the half-time, and he brought on Germanpreet, Issac, and Dhanpal Ganesh for Aiborlang Khongjee, Jakichand, and Holicharan Narzary. The second-half proved to be a disappointment compared to the first, as India took a cautious approach to play out of the game. The match, finally, ended 3-0, as India registered an easy win over the neighbours.