KATHMANDU, Sept 6: India registered its first three points of the tournament with a 2-0 win over Sri Lanka in a match dominated largely by the defending champions in the Group B match played on Wednesday.
India made a slow buildup to the game, controlled the tempo, and used the gaps left in the flanks from which the first goal came as Ashique Kuruniyan slotted the ball past Sri Lankan keeper Sujan Perera in the 35th minute of the match.
After scoring the first goal, India looked more confident on the ball, while Sri Lanka struggled to control the possession and gave the ball away on several occasion in the first half.
India threatened to score more goals with more movements growing from the flanks and less from the middle. India also preferred crossing the ball more, which put Sri Lanka under pressure.
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Defensively, India was compact as well. Every time Sri Lanka pushed forward from the flanks, four to five Indian players came to close down Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka then failed to attack from the flanks and prioritized the center area.
India played more of the same in the second half as Lallianzuala Chhangte scored an outrageous goal from the left flank. He controlled the ball and shot straight into the right top corner giving the keeper no chance at all to even get a fingertip to it.
India moved the ball inside the box easily, but the final product was missing in the second half. Substitute Nikhil Poojari’s shot went just wide from a corner kick.
Dominating the match in the second period as well, India slowed the game a little after the hour mark. But, Chhangte’s cross after some delightful stepovers just sailed wide in the 73rd minute.
India’s Farukh Choudhary saw his shot get deflected and saved by the keeper in the 80th minute, and the shot from substitute Manvir Singh was again denied by Perera just after a minute. Choudhary a chance again, but his header was saved brilliantly by the goalkeeper.
The losing team got a chance through Kavindu Ishan, but his cross only hit the side-netting. Sri Lanka looked like scoring a goal in the first minute of three added at the end of the extra time, but Ishan’s pass to Asela Madushan was flagged offside.
