India produced a dominant performance in the second half but went down fighting 2-5 against Bahrain in their second group match of the Asian Cup football tournament here today.
India, who lost to Australia 0-4 in their first match, trailed 1-4 at the breather but came back strongly in the second half. to show that they are no pushovers though there is 51 places difference in the FIFA rankings between the two teams with Bahrain at 93rd.
With this loss, India expectedly were eliminated from the competition though they have one more match -- against South Korea on January 18.
Bahrain striker Ismaeel Abdul Latif scored the tournament’s first hat-trict, finding the target four times inthe 16th, 19th, 35th and 77th minutes after his team-mate Faouzi Aaish had opened the account for his side in the eighth minute.
For India, Gouramangi Singh and Sunil Chhetri scored in the ninth and 51st minutes in the Group C match at the Al Sadd Stadium here.
In a fast-paced match, India tried to match their more fancied rivals, who missed out the bus for 2010 world Cup inplay-off, but a goal-keeper miss judgment and constant pressure from their opponents saw them wilt and trail 1-4 at half time.
Strikers Chhetri and Abhishek Yadav, who started in place of Mohammed Rafi today, troubled the opposition defence many times.
Sunil Chetri, in particular, was in the thick of things missed on a couple of chances. But not a good day for him.
Indian badly need well built striker. Why India not gave citizenship to Odafa, Tolgey, Okpara, Pen, Beto. Every team has foreign flavor. Why not India?
India scored one goal through Chhetri in the second half, but they failed to use the opportunity of one-man advantage from the 62nd minute onwards and score more.
Bahrain''s first goal scorer Faouzi Aatish was sent off by Malaysian referee Mohammed Abdul Razaq after he was booked forthe second time in the match for diving without any foul.
Instead, India conceded a goal against the run of play to widen the margin of loss.
With this win, Bahrain, who lost to South Korea 1-2 in their opening match, stayed in contention for a quarter final berth. Ranked seventh in Asia, Bahrain play Australia on January 18.
The Indian defence of Gouramangi Singh, Anwar, SurkumarSingh and Syed Rahim Nabi were troubled by the fast Bahraini strike duo of John Jaycee and Abdul Latif several times in the first half. .
Best Performer for India: Subrata Paul and Gourmangi
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