Positives from India’s draw against Vietnam: Striker Farukh Chaudhary shows he can find the target

On Saturday, the nationalist squad played 1 of its amended games implicit the past twelvemonth – a twelvemonth wherever they were kicked retired of the AFC Asian Cup from the radical signifier without scoring a goal, and past missed retired connected reaching the 3rd circular of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers aft a humiliating 1-2 nonaccomplishment to Afghanistan astatine home.

Better does not needfully mean bully though, arsenic Vietnam, a squad connected the decline, inactive managed to outclass the Indians, who scored a extremity successful the 2nd fractional to salvage a 1-1 draw. The past clip some these teams had faced each other, the Indians had been thrashed 3-0.

India were earlier expected to play against some Lebanon and Vietnam but past the Central Asian state pulled retired of the affable tourney with Fifa ranking points connected offer.

Slow start

As has been the lawsuit with the squad recently, a dilatory commencement is astir a fixed astatine this point. It took each of 10 minutes for Vietnam to get their archetypal punishment of the lucifer – a pointless barge by cardinal defender Rahul Bheke successful the punishment box. But Vietnam’s skipper Hai Ngoc Que slapped a debased and dilatory changeable that wasn’t anyplace adjacent a country and it was an casual prevention for goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to marque and India graciously took the let-off.

They past had an aboriginal accidental astatine extremity arsenic well. Farukh Chaudhary was chosen to pb the attacking enactment and the Chennayin FC subordinate instantly created a accidental retired of nothing. With his backmost to extremity and a defender connected him, Chaudhary turned around, nutmegged his defender and past deed a rasping left-footed thrust goalwards. The changeable was saved.

Chaudhary had different deed connected people aboriginal successful the fractional erstwhile Brandon Fernandes recovered him with a clever, angled walk into goal, wrong the container itself. Farukh’s changeable was erstwhile again beardown and connected people – aimed astatine the keeper’s close bottommost country but was saved again.

Vietnam’s archetypal extremity came successful the 37th minute. Usually erstwhile defending a shot flying into the box, the Indian squad person been blameworthy of a deficiency of organisation and taking positions excessively deep.

It allowed Hao Vi Bui the accidental to instrumentality a changeable from close extracurricular the box. Indian defender Anwar Ali got a ft to the shot but it ended successful a deflection that rolled into the nett contempt Sandhu trying his champion to propulsion the shot away.

Vietnam had conceded a extremity successful their past eleven games, a mediocre grounds lone matched by India’s inability to find an open-play extremity (Only 1 since past November). Someone had to blink archetypal successful this contention of inferiority and fortunately for India, the location squad made an error. A Suresh Wangjam walk from wrong the Indian fractional sailed implicit the Vietnamese antiaircraft enactment and skipper Que, who had already missed a punishment successful the archetypal half, recovered himself successful a tricky presumption of either holding onto Chaudhary or, playing the ball. In the end, helium couldn’t bash either and the Indian striker lobbed the shot implicit Vietnam custodian Filip Nguyen.

Better successful 2nd half

Marquez’s squad was amended successful the 2nd half, keeping power of the shot for definite periods and adjacent managing to unfastened up the Vietnamese defence connected occasion. But the last fewer minutes of the lucifer saw the location squad propulsion up and effort to instrumentality the win. Sandhu was called into enactment connected aggregate occasions, and the Bengaluru FC custodian did a bully capable occupation to gain India a invaluable gully against a mid-tier Asian country.

The nationalist squad volition adjacent look Malaysia for a affable successful the adjacent Fifa planetary window. These friendlies mightiness not person a batch of relevance but Marquez has made it wide that these windows are crucial, particularly with the AFC Asian Cup qualification starting from aboriginal adjacent year.