Granatkin Memorial Football | India U-19 lose to Kyrgyz Republic in penalty shoot-out
AIFF
The Indian under 19 football team was beaten by Kyrgyz Republic in the 9-12th position playoff game of the ongoing Granatkin Memorial Football Tournament in Russia. After the game ended with a scoreline of 1-1 after the regulation time, Kyrgyz Republic won in the shootout by a score of 3-1.
It was a very poor start for the junior Blue Tigers as they had to play with 10 men on the pitch from the second minute of the match after Sumit Rathi was sent off for a foul on Kyrgyz goalkeeper Artem Priadkin. The first chance was created after the 30th minute when Rohit Danu’s pass to Harmanpreet was saved well by the Kyrgyz goalie. Till the end of the first half of the match, India tried attacking despite playing with only 10 men and went into the break with the scores level.Â
Indian goalie Prabhsukhan Gill also effected a good stop in the 70th minute. India capitaized on that and got the first goal of the match as Akash got his name on the scoresheet 16 minutes from time. However, India could not hold onto the lead as Emir’s shot from the edge of the box found the back of the net in the 88th minute. With the referee blowing for full time, a shootout was needed to separate the two sides.
In the shootout, Rohit Danu gave India the right start but Harmanpreet, Sailo, and Jitendra's kicks were saved by Artem and India failed to get their first win in the tournament. The Indian colts will now face the losers of the play-off match between Armenia and Tajikistan in their final play-off match to decide the 11th and 12th positions in the tournament.
