Football: Indian National Team news ...

[usaindia]

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmmwJuCTaQU

[arjun2761]

So India now needs Iran to beat TJK otherwise we will be out of the 3rd place match against Oman. Iran-TJK are 0-0 after 34 mins.

[usaindia]

now iran 2-1over tajik

[arjun2761]

Iran tied TJK 2-2. We finished second in the group based on the head-to-head win over TJK even though they had the same points and a better goal difference.

[jayakris]

Wow, that is amazing. Never thought we would manage to finish top-2 in group B and make it to the third place match against the Group A runner-up.

The good thing is that we do not have to travel to Uzbekistan (where the group A matches were). We stay right there at Hisar, TJK, where we played the three matches so far. Group A runner-up Oman will have to travel (as does Iran to Tashkent, as Uzbekistan of group A stays home for the final). #79 Oman will be very tough, but who knows, we seem to have some luck on our side!

[Omkara]

Either Afghan get excited playing against us or the ghost of Guwahati still bugs us. We certainly play a few notches lower against them.

[jayakris]

India vs Oman third place match is on. (You can watch on https://www.fancode.com/ for INR 29.00 for just the match. Very cheap. Need VPN from outside India, I believe)

At the 25th minute, it is a 0-0 tie.

It is 0-0 at the half time. Irfan Yadwad (as forward, wearing #10) wasted a great chance just before half time on a cross from the left. Totally screwed up a left footer. Jeez, our finishing problems are crazy. But we have really defended well in this match, so far.

[jayakris]

55th minute, our defense missed a couple of chances to clear the ball allowing Oman to crowd our goal and methodically move the ball toward a score. One could see it coming, over a 1 minute period... 0-1

The kind of idiotic things we do when we have the ball on the opponents' half are mind-boggling. Like they have never played anythin but defense in their lives. Come to think of it, they probably haven't, since they made it into clubs years ago.

70th min. Playing absolutely horrible football since that goal from Oman.

80th min. Udanta scores off a long throw in... 1-1 tied !!!!

90+5 over... 1-1 ... We go to 30 minutes of overtime now. Not bad, India. Very good football for the last 15 minutes from India with very few mistakes and a lot of ball possession (and I love how Khalid Jamil directs the players from the sideline. Fantastic, actually, as we can hear how loud he is, and how thorough he is in his calls. He calls out all the right players to move up, fall back, push, etc. Wow! This man is so passionately into the game. I am sure the players love having a coach like that on the sideline)

Fan code's feed breaks as the extra time starts. So no idea what is going on now.... Okay, back on... 1-1 at the 100 min mark.

105 min ... 1-1 ... India kept possession on their half for almost 7 minutes... Not able to do much to go into their goal. Lots of nice passing but Oman stays back and just defends. Second extra 15 min to start.

120 min. 1-1... We go to penalty kicks!! Great job India, holding #79 Oman to 1-1 over 120 minutes. It really was an even match for the last 45 minutes after we equalized.

Penalties. India kicks first. 1-0 (Changte), 1-0 (Al Saadi missed the kick left) ... 2-0 (Bheke), 2-0 (Al Khaabi missed high!) ... 2-0 (Amwar Ali kick saved by GK), 2-1 (Al Ruhsaidi) ... 3-1 (Jithin, stutter step tap-in) 3-2 (Al Ghassani) ... 3-2 (Udanta missed high), 3-2 (Gurpreet save!!!!! Guessed right on their #10 Al Yahmadi kick. wow)

India wins!!!! ... #133 India d. #79 Oman, 1-1 (3-2 PK)

India

[jayakris]

This was the very first win ever, over Oman. In 31 years of playing them. Take a bow, coach Khalid Jamil

Khalid got that win over Carlos Queiroz, former head coach of Real Madrid and Portugal. Can you believe it?

[arjun2761]

Wow, good result for India!

Looks like Oman received a red card at the 95th min, so we had a man advantage for the last 25 mins in OT.

[jayakris]

^^ Oh, I missed the red card. The Fancode feed was going on and off. That explains why we were able to possess the ball so much for the last 25 minutes. But we were playing well, too.

This is probably the strongest friendly tournament that I remember India playing in a long time. #20, #55, #79, #104 in the field, and we were the 6th highest ranked among the 8, going there as a replacement team in the last minute... but we finished on the podium, with wins over the #104 home team and the #79 team.

[Omkara]

We beat wr 79. Though officially it’s recorded as a draw. That’s good too.

We scored a goal. Held on to a draw. It would do world of good to our morale. The afg fiasco and then Qatar cheating. Some how hit us bad.

Good to see recovery. We need to score more. Win more.

[jayakris]

The beautiful Udanta equalizer

[jayakris]

Here is the save by Sandhu on the final kick.

[Atithee]

^^Udanta goal—that goal can be called a double header. Don’t recall any goal being scored off two successive headers like that. Well done.