India U16 held to 2-2 draw against Qatar’s Alsadd SC U16

by Chittu Shetty September 11, 2017

In a nail biting encounter that saw a sending off and 2 goals being scored in Injury-Time, ended in a 2-2 draw for India U16 against Alsadd Sports Club

In the evenly contested first half, it was India that had the first shy on goal when captain Harpreet singh’s on target attempt was easily collected by Alsadd goalkeeper. At the end Alsadd FC too looked comfortable on the ball giving some tense moments for Indian defence. However In the 37^th minute, India took the lead courtesy Thoiba, a long corner from Givson Singh was smartly converted by Thoiba to make it 1-0 in favour of visitors.

Soon Alsadd began attacking more aggressively, in search of equaliser and finally in the 40^th minute they struck back to make it level pegging as both teams entered the break. The second half began with Indian coach Bibiano looking to make tactical changes replacing keeper Jongte with Manik and then bringing in Ravi in place of Lalrokima few minutes later.

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Seven minutes into the second half, Indian team had a chance to take the lead when the referee ordered a spot kick for visitors. However the chance went amiss after Vikram’s shot couldn’t beat the Alsadd keeper. Despite the miss, India looked in control of the proceeding, earning some slew of corners as the host defence was kept on toes. Despite the attempts Indians failed to break the Alsadd defence as Coach Bibiano ringed in more changes bringing in Harpreet, Ridge and Eric in place of Vikram, Ricky, Gurukirat.

As the game progressed to injury time, Super-sub Harpreet Rulbir hit the net to make it 2-1 and give India a huge advantage, however minute later of the goal, Harpreet Singh was given a marching order after conceding a foul inside his own box.  As the referee gave the spot-kick, alsadd made no mistake in converting it as the game ended with sharing of spoils.

Indian U16 2 – 2 Alsadd SC U16