India settle for third
A 99th minute 'golden goal' from striker Abhishek Jadav helped India avenge a sweet revenge against Pakistan and finish third in the SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) yesterday.
The match before the grand finale between Bangladesh and Maldives was levelled at 1-1 on completion of 90 minutes regulation time. Pakistan shocked the tournament favourites India 1-0 to mark their first ever victory against their bitter rivals in the group phase.
Striker Abhishek, who was out of sorts throughout the match missing out on three clean chances, became an Indian hero when he headed home a Selwyn Fernandes cross from the right nine minutes into the extra time.
India, who lost to the eventual champions Bangladesh (1-2) in a semifinal on Saturday, got off to an impressive start right from the word go despite they missed the services of their young forward Ashim Biswas for two yellow cards.
India could have scored at least half a dozen goals in the first session had not their forwards missed sitters. Their attackers appeared to have been running out of steam in front of the goal post, and they ended up shooting straight to the Pakistan custodian Jaffar Khan.
Abhishek alone missed three one-to-one chances while Jo Paul Ancheri and Abhay Kumar muffed up the others.
"It's very unfortunate that the boys could not capitalise those easy opportunities," said India coach Stephen Constantine after the match.
India came back firing on all cylinders after the lemon break and finally could break the evening's duck in the 56th minute when veteran striker IM Vijayan headed home a left side floater from substitute midfielder Avlito D'Chunha.
Pakistan, on the receiving end most of the time, however took only six minutes to level the score with striker Sarfaraz Rasool heading home a brilliant cross from Nawaz.
Buoyed by the equaliser, Pakistan went all out and came close to scoring in the 81st and 82nd minutes. But it was Indian custodian Naseem Akhter who stayed cool under the bar to make two great saves. Yellow card: Jo Paul Ancheri (India)
TEAMS
INDIA: Naseem, JO Paul Ancheri (Venkatesh), Suresh, Roberto Fernandes, Abhay Kumar (Harvinder), Subhash (Alvito), Selwyn Fernandes, Lawrence, Jules Alberto, Abhishek and IM Vijayan
PAKISTAN: Jaffar, Haroon, Tanveer, Zakir, Ashfaq, Ayaz, Qadeer, Shahid (Nawaz), Amir Khan, Sarfaraz Rasool and Abdul Ghani.
Referee: Tayeb Hassan (Bangladesh)
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