India lose 0-1 to Mafra on Portugal tour

By IANS,

Lisbon : The Indian football team went down 0-1 to second division Portuguese side Clube Desportivo de Mafra in their practice match at the Mafra ground here.


Support TwoCircles

The only goal of the match Thursday was scored by Mafra striker Bonifacio in the 52nd minute. It was India’s second defeat in the two-month-long training-cum-competition tour of Portugal.

In the match, coach Bob Houghton rested almost all the players, who played in India’s convincing 3-1 win over Uniao Desportiva da Serra Wednesday.

India started off with Arindam Bhattacharya in the goal, Deepak Mondal as the right wing back, Mahesh Gawli and Govind Singh as central defenders and N. Mohanraj on the left flank.

In the midfield, Steven Dias was on the right, Climax Lawrence and Baldeep Singh at the centre and James Singh on the left. Houghton fielded two new strikers in Mohammed Rafi and Sushil Kumar Singh.

Both the teams took a cautious approach which resulted in a goalless opening half.

SUPPORT TWOCIRCLES HELP SUPPORT INDEPENDENT AND NON-PROFIT MEDIA. DONATE HERE