By IANS
New Delhi : India entered the finals of the Nehru Cup international football tournament with a sublime 3-0 win over Kyrgyzstan in the last round robin league match of the event here Sunday.
India needed a draw to qualify for the final slated for Wednesday, where they will face Syria. But they came out with all guns blazing and with goals from Bhaichung Bhutia (38th), Sunil Chettri (60th) and Abhishek Yadav in the injury time to make sure that India makes Nehru Cup history.
India’s best finish in the Nehru Cup so far was a semi-final berth in its last edition in 1997 in Kochi under the guidance of Syed Nayeemuddin.
The Indian team was backed by some 15,000 fans at the Ambedkar Stadium here and right from the start were on the attacking mode. Coach Bob Houghton knew that a draw would have been enough to get the ticket for the final but had maintained that his boys would go for a win and he proved Sunday.
Bhutia lead from the front but the real hero of the day was right-winger Steven Dias, who kept on feeding the strikers with some excellent passes and himself came close to scoring on one occasion. Dias has been the playmaker for India all throughout the tournament and was also named the Man of the Match award for his brilliant performance.
India got a chance to open the scoring in the 21st minute when N.P. Pradeep went for an ambitious air-borne header and missed the net by a whisker. A neat cross by Dias in the box found Pradeep, whose header went begging.
But India didn’t have to wait long and the much needed goal came in the 38th minute with a fine effort from Bhutia. The Indian captain was set up by Renedy Singh and dribbled two defenders to shot it past Kyrgyzstan goalie Agapov Maksim.
Few minutes later India got another chance to double the lead but Chettri squandered it. It was again a fine cross from Dias but Chettri headed it out.
After the change of sides, India slowed down the pace of attack and the second goal came in the 60th minute from Chettri’s strike. Bhutia got a centre from Dias in the box and then deflected it to Chettri, who got it past Maksim.
Yadav, who came in as replacement for Bhutia in the 70th minute, pegged the final nail in Kyrgyzstan’s coffin. The tall burly striker made an excellent solo run and then dodged past a Kyrgyzstan defender and chipped over the goalie to seal the fate of the match in the India’s favour.
TEAMS:
India: Subrato Paul (goalkeeper), Gourmangi Singh, N.S. Manju, Surkumar Singh, Mahesh Gawli, Steven Dias, Climax Lawrence, N.P. Pradeep (Ajayan Nair, 57), Renedy Singh (Clifford Miranda, 57), Sunil Chettri, Bhaichung Bhutia (Abhishek Yadav, 70)
Kyrgyzstan: Maksim Agapov (goalkeeper), Samsaliev Talant, Amin Viascheslav, Radik Vodopianov (Roman Kornilov, 74), Sergei Kniazev, Harchenko Vadim, Ruslan Djamshidov, Aibek Bokoev, Bakytbek Mamatov, Sidorenko Pavel (Timur Valiev, 53), Lut Fullaev (Alambazek Mirzalive, 44)
Referee: Sikhrakar Surendra (Nepal)