The Indian U-19 football team went down to yet another defeat against hosts Serbia, losing 1-3 in their second friendly match of the exposure tour to Europe, which is seen as a preparation for next year’s U-19 Asian Championship.
They had earlier lost 0-2 in the first of the two friendly matches.
India started well and could have scored an early goal when Jeakson Singh headed inches wide from an Amarjit Singh corner. But their pressure couldn’t last long as Serbia scored the first of their three goals through Bojic Bojan.
Intercepting a ball just outside the Indian penalty box, Bojan dribbled past three defenders before slotting it past goalkeeper Prabhsukhan Gill to give his side the lead.
All of the four goals in the match came inside the opening 45 minutes.
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The goal raised the confidence of the home team and soon in the 30th minute, they doubled the lead. Indian goalkeeper Gill was, however, to be blamed as it as his slack pass that led to the goal.
A Serbian corner was brilliantly saved by Gill, who then proceeded to pass the ball quickly for a counter-attack. But is pass to Jeakson was intercepted Ognjenovic Marko, who blasted the net with his shot.
Serbia soon added a third from another lapse in the Indian defense.
Desperate for a goal the Indian colts tried and soon pulled one back through striker Rahim Ali at the stroke of half-time.
Playing in the right wing, Aman Chhetri found Abhijit Sarkar through with a brilliant ball in between the Serbian defenders. The attacking midfielder then found Ali with a cross inside the penalty box, which the striker had little difficulty in nodding in.
The introduction of Nongdamba Naorem then saw India make several inroads into the opposition box, with the Manipuri boy himself troubling the Serbian defenders with his clever step-overs.
But despite numerous attacks, both the sides failed to find the net in the second half after a goal fest in the first.
Image Source: Goal.com