Asian Cup Qualifier | Sunil Chhetri scores historic goal in Indian win

It was the home side who got off to a good start putting the Indian defense under some serious pressure with only the quick thinking of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu keeping India on level terms. However, after seeing off the early pressure, it was India who created the first clear-cut chance just before the half-hour mark. Myanmar goalkeeper, Thiha Si Thu, completely miscued a cross from the left wing that fell for Jackichand. But the East Bengal player was unable to bring his lob down in time. Jackichand then had another great chance to rectify his mistake when he was played in by Robin Singh from the left wing but yet again the 25-year-old failed to get a telling touch on the ball.

Myanmar recovered quickly and created a chance of their own Aung Thu’s curling effort took a  deflection that made it easy for Sandhu to gather the ball. A few minutes later Thu was at it again, from the dead ball situation, but Sandhu was there to deny him again. India were struggling to hold on to the ball for a consistent period as Borges and Lyngdoh gave the ball away too easily to have any sort of control on the game. India went in for the half-time interval as the happier side based on the kind of chances they had created.

Constantine brought on Udanta Singh in place of Robin Singh to put some pressure on the Myanmar backline. India had a shout for a penalty turned away by the referee when Udanta was brought down in the box after being played in by Chhetri. With 10 minutes to go, Rowlin Borges made way for Dhanpal Ganesh as Constantine started suring up his defense to take a valuable away point.