Beleaguered India go down fighting 2-1 against Jordan

A depleted Indian side fought valiantly before eventually going down 2-1 against Jordan in an international friendly at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Al-Qweismeh, Amman on Saturday.

Faced with unceremonious circumstances after enduring a 32-hour ordeal, India coach Stephen Constantine was forced to make wholesome changed to his squad and hence went into the match without any proper striker.

Catch the highlights of India’s clash against Jordan today in which debutant @nishukumar22 found the back of the net.#BackTheBlue #JORIND #AsianDream pic.twitter.com/TXQjpfqHPD

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) November 17, 2018

It was evident that Jordan started well against a beleaguered Indian team devoid of any training session. They enjoyed a greater share of ball possession and nearly scored when Pritam Kotal adjudged to have handled the ball after Yaseen Al Bakhit’s volley was straight at him. The referee pointed to the spot but goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu guessed Bani Attiah’s shot right and produced a well-timed save to keep India alive after 10 minutes had passed.

But as luck would have it, a spectacular night turned into worst for the lanky custodian when he failed to judge the bounce of a long ball from opposite number Amer Shafi in the 25^th minute. It left him wrong-footed and despite fragile attempts, the Bengaluru shot-stopper only managed to guide into the net.

On a spree after the goal, Jordan could have a second minutes later after Subashish Bose slipped while trying to make a clearance. Al Bakhit, who was Jordan’s biggest threat on the night, latched onto it and beat Gurpreet with his shot but Bose was at hand to make amends and head the ball away from goalline.

Then a minute before half-time, striker Baha Faisal failed to make a tap-in from another of Al Bakhit’s cross.

India fared better in the second half as Anirudh Thapa found an able partner in substitute Ashique Kuruniyan upfront. But just when it seemed that India were slowly rising from the sleep they were in the opening 45 minutes, Jordan struck from a counter.

Most of India’s tall defenders had gone into the opposition box for a corner, which was mishit and Jordan immediately set off on a counter-attack. Eshan Haddad scored past Gurpreet after Ahmad Sameer found him with a brilliant low cross.

Constantine immediately replaced Jackichand Singh with debutant Nishu Kumar and the Bengaluru FC left-back repaid the faith with a maiden international goal just minutes after coming on. Three minutes after Jordan had netted their second Germanpreet found Nishu unmarked inside the opposition box with a low cross from which the winger shot home to raise some hopes for an India revival.

It was in the 61st minute and from there it looked game on with India constantly raiding the Jordan half. The home team defended deep but still Pronay Halder had enough time to slid home a Das corner, which was plated on his path by a Sumeet Passi backhead. But Halder missed and with it went India’s best chance on the night.

The defeat though was of far less significance in comparison to the spirit the boys displayed despite missing so many of their star players.