Chhetri becomes country’s highest scorer
Siliguri: India outplayed Nepal 2-0 in an international football friendly here on Tuesday with captain Sunil Chhetri scoring a goal to become the country’s most prolific striker in national colours.
Chhetri gave India the lead with a 21st minute strike to go past former captain Baichung Bhutia’s 42 international goals before Clifford Miranda added another in the 49th as India produced a dominant display over Nepal at the Kanchenjunga Stadium.
The win, which avenged India’s 1-2 defeat against the same opponents in the SAFF Championships, was also the first international friendly victory for Wim Koevermans as head coach this year.
India had lost to Palestine (2-4) and Tajikistan (0-3) earlier in the year before drawing against Philippines 1-1 on November 16 here.
Baichung, who watch the match from the stands, came down at the pitch after the match and congratulated Chhetri with a hug for surpassing his record.
The build-up for India’s first goal came from Clifford Miranda on the left.
Robin Singh, whose physical presence was a constant threat for Nepal, headed in Clifford’s cross but could not beat the rival goalkeeper Kiran Limbu. But Chhetri was there to slot the ball home for his 43rd goal to the wild cheers of the 15,000-odd crowd.
Most of play remained confined to Nepal half in the first session and their goalkeeper Limbu had a busy day under the bar while his Indian counterpart Karanjit Singh rarely had to collect the ball.
Once Limbu palmed Robin’s right-footer, the other time, he gathered Chhetri’s powerful right-footer from close. The Nepalese goalkeeper had to tip over those several aerial crosses from the flanks as India went into the interval with a 1-0 lead.
Just four minutes after change of ends, Clifford doubled the lead for India.
The counter-attack was initiated by Mehtab who laid Robin on the right flank.
Robin’s grounder was neatly tapped in by Miranda in the 49th minute.
Lalrindika Ralte, who played in tandem with Mehtab Hossain, had his push narrowly miss the mark in the 59th minute.
Even as the ball bounced awkwardly in front of him, Ralte managed to keep it down but even with Limbu beaten, it went out.
The next minute, Robin hit the bar. This time, an overlapping debutant Narayan Das, the 476th Player to have played for India, ran past the entire midfield and left it for Robin. But Robin’s powerful shot bounced off the upright.
Soon Victorino Fernandes became the 477th Player to have played for India when he came on as a substitute for Francis Fernandes in the 75th minute and then, Rocus Lamare came on for Lalrindika Ralte in the 83rd minute. Lamare was not the only Meghalaya player in the fray, with defender Aiborlang Khongjee playing the full 90 minutes.
Later, CK Vineeth replaced Miranda in the 85th minute.
By then, Victorino had already created an impression on the right. His sudden burst of pace caught the rival defence on the wrong foot twice. (PTI)