BHUBANESWAR: While the heat and humidity of the Odisha summer played a key role in both matches on the opening day of Intercontinental Cup, the spotlight stayed on Igor Stimac’s Indians who embarked on their preparation for the Asian Cup with a 2-0 victory over Mongolia.
It was an ideal start for the Croatian as the young Indian midfield dominated their lower-ranked opponents, especially in the first half when Sahal Abdul Samad and Lallianzuala Chhangte made their mark on the scoresheet, and ended the day on second spot behind Lebanon, who won their opener against Vanuatu 3-1.
It took just two minutes for the Blue Tigers to break the deadlock as Anirudh Thapa — a star performer on the day on the right wing — sent in a cross into the box from an Udanta Singh long ball. It was Sahal who was at the right place when Mongolia goalkeeper Enkhtataivan failed to gather the ball and shot it in for the second quickest goal under Stimac.
The Indian midfield and attack were at their best in the opening 20 minutes as Thapa kept starting creative runs from the middle as Sahal, Udanta and Chhangte combined to aggressively push for another goal. After breaking his goal drought for the national team, Sahal was brilliant with his body feigns and turns that kept deceiving the Mongolian defenders and perfect passes that split their defensive third.
While Lalengmawia Ralte or Apuia failed to have his shot from inside the box on target in the 11th minute, India found another breakthrough just four minutes later from a corner. After Sandesh Jhingan failed to head in Thapa’s kick, Chhangte was in the perfect position to guide it in on the second rebound.
While Sahal combined with skipper Sunil Chhetri to further increase the lead in the 40th minute, India had to be content with a 2-0 scoreline going into the half-time break.
The intensity, however, changed after the breather as the heat and humidity looked to have taken a toll on the players. India failed to regain the pace they mastered early on as five-man Mongolia defence — that had started the tie with four defenders — slowed down the game.
The second half was also witness to a number of substitutions on both ends as Stimac and his counterpart Ichiro Otsuka tried their best to bring in fresh legs. While India did create some opportunities and kept 65% of possession, none of them were enough to affect the scoreline in the second half.
At the other end, with Amrinder Singh under the goal, the three-man backline of Jhingan, Anwar Ali and Anirudh Mishra stayed strong with Mehtab Singh coming on in the second half to strengthen the Indian backline, which will face the attacks from the likes of Australia and Syria in next January’s crucial Asian Cup.
The afternoon kickoff between Lebanon and Vanuatu bore the major brunt of the merciless heat substitutions and cooling breaks reigned supreme even as the highest-ranked team at the tournament, Lebanon, bagged the three points on offer.
A dominant Lebanon could only open scoring in the 59th miniute with an inch-perfect Hassan Maatour corner put in by an unmarked Nader Matar. A hopeful Vanuatu equalised just three minutes later when substitute Jean Taussi’s free-kick was converted by John Wohale on rebound.
In the 72nd minute, Lebanon regained lead from another corner from skipper Masatouk that was headed in by substitute Hassan Kourani and 13 minutes later, the match was taken beyond Vanuatu’s reach when Karim Darwich converted from the spot after being brought down in the box by skipper Jason Thomas.
