Via AIFF
India managed to hold Marcelo Lippi’s China in a historic draw at Suzhou Olympic stadium in China. This is the Blue Tigers only positive result against a top 80 ranked team under Stephen Constantine.
The Chinese were clearly dominant and were unlucky not to score as they hit the post twice in the second half of the game. India on the other hand managed to have only two shots on target one early in the first half and second one in additional time.
China started the game in the front foot dominating possession against an Indian side which struggled to hold the ball for a long time earlier in the first half. The best chance in the whole first half fell to India when Pritam Kotal’s powerful shot was blocked by the Chinese goalkeeper in the 12th minute.
Indian back line were very compact through the first half preventing China from getting any good opportunity while the midfield did well to slow down the pace of the game. Lack of creativity and poor finishing from the forwards affected China.
China very dominant throughout the second half, They hit the post twice and gave India several nervous moments inside their penalty box. India hardly created any good chances in the 2nd half but could have won the game in additional time when Farukh Chowdry was through on goal but his effort was blocked by the Chinese goalkeeper.
Anirudh Thapa and Gurpreet Sandhu were stand out players for India and put on a great show.
China failed to score against Qatar and Bahrain
Could manage only 1 goal against MyanmarDo you think Indian defence can prevent them from scoring today?#CHNvIND
— Indian Football News (@indianfootynet) October 13, 2018
I had earlier mentioned about China struggle to score goals this year and it was clearly visible as Team Dragon who dominated majority of the proceedings failed to score.
This result would be a big boost to Stephen Constantine and India ahead of the Asian Cup but it’s really sad we only get to play one friendly in this international break due to the ISL.
