IND vs NEP | Sunil Chettri & Farukh Choudhary's goals give India much-needed win over Nepal
Farukh Choudhary scores his first goal for India
|(Jamshedpur FC/ Twitter)
The Indian team registered a 2-1 victory over Nepal in the second friendly on Sunday. After a 1-1 draw in the first encounter, the onus was on the Indians to force a favourable result. Even though they did manage to do it eventually, it was hardwork for Igor Stimac's men.
Finally, Team India delivered a win against Nepal 2-1 in the second friendly against the neighbors on Sunday. Igor Stimac's men managed to find the net twice with Farukh Choudhary and Sunil Chhetri scoring the goals for India. Having said that, India were hardly impressive throughout the 90 minutes on the pitch against a weaker opposition.Â
It would be fair to say that Nepal were the more dominant team in the first half, like they were in the first friendly as well. India once again found it hard to get spaces and create moves to score, while the Nepalese kept it tight. If this is any indication of things to come for the Men in Blue, things look bleak for them when the SAFF Championships and the Asian Cup qualifiers come later in the year.
It was in the second half that the Indians showed some spark after Stimac made an early change -- Choudhary for Bipin. After creating a few chances, it was in the 61st minute that a header by Sunil Chhetri went towards Choudhary and the latter made no mistake in netting his first goal for the team.Â
Come the 80th minute, India scored their second goal, courtesy some brilliance by Chhetri once again. But Nepal did not surrender as yet as they came back on the scoresheet seven minutes later -- when Tej Tamang scored from a long range.Â
Without the presence of Sandesh Jhingan, the defence did look lacklustre, but did enough in the end to prevent a draw once again.
