SAFF Cup | India open their account with a 2-0 victory over Sri Lanka

09/06/2018

India beat Sri Lanka 2-0 in their first fixture of the SAFF cup at the Bangabandhu stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh on Wednesday. Ashique Kuruniyan and Lallinzuala Chhangte scored two goals to keep up with the expectations from the team after good training sessions in Australia.

Expectations from the Indian football team at the SAFF cup were risen after their exposure tour of Australia, where they trained together for 45 days, in order to keep up with the conditions that would come on their way during the tournament.

India played their first match against Sri Lanka at the Bangabandhu stadium on Wednesday. The Indian team started off with a 4-2-3-1 formation under coach Stephen Constantine's guidance. Sumeet Passi and Farrukh Choudhary played forward while Vishal Kaithal was the goal keeper. Skipper, Subashish Bose played left back with Sarthak Golui as the right back. Anirudh Thapa and Germanpreet Singh were the two midfielders.

Sumeet Passi missed the first chance created by a cross from Bose and failed to score. Golui picked up an early booking right in the 17th minute of the first half of the game.

In the 35th minute, Ashique Kuruniyan ran behind the Sri Lankan defence line and stroke hard against the keeper to score the first international goal of his career. The second youngest Indian player to score an international goal, Lallinzuala Chhangte, put in a lot of efforts to create chances for the team to score but couldn't get through. He broke the kind by scoring the second goal of the match right at the start of the second half. His cross from the left evaded everybody including the keeper. Indian defence held the opposition tight to maintain their lead throughout the match which led to their victory.

India will play Maldives in the next fixture on the 9th September 2018.