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Determined India tames robust Namibia

Vijay Lokapally

Photo: PTI

Midfield action:India's Sunil Chetri gets one past Namibian Steven Goagab passes as skipper Baichung Bhutia watches. —

NEW DELHI: Mehrajuddin Wadoo's long-distance strike and a curling free-kick by Anthony Pereira in either half saw India tame a robust Namibia in the international football friendly at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Wednesday night.

The 2-0 victory may have surprised even the die-hard fans of the home team, but then Namibia faltered where it mattered most even as India made the most of the fewer scoring opportunities.

The Namibians, playing without eight of their professionals, lacked the accuracy to put the ball into the goal.

The African team had an untiring distributor in Quinton Jacobs and an innovative worker upfront in Roger Katjijeo.

But thanks to Mahesh Gawli, Surkumar Singh, Gauramangi Singh and Anwar Ali, who did a fine job in the Indian defence, many of the moves failed to be penetrative. However, an area of concern for the Indian camp was the suspected injury to Baichung Bhutia who had come in as a substitute.

For Namibia, the tall Michael Pienaar displayed excellent anticipation in cutting off some brilliant runs by Abhishek Yadav down the middle but it was India's day at its favourite ground.

Creating a flutter

India, which now stands 160 in FIFA rankings, created a flutter early through Pereira and Clifford Miranda even though the Indians appeared cagey when exploring in the Namibia territory.

The Africans were enterprising and their positive approach set the tempo for the contest. Pareira and Wadoo worked hard with N.P. Pradeep providing the support.

The Namibians came up with some threatening counters but ran into a tough defence and an agile Subrata Paul under the bar.

The game intensified and India drew first blood in the 27th minute when Wadoo's ambitious drive went in off a deflection. The Namibians were unhappy at the referee Pratap Singh ignoring an injury to Alfred Ndyenge.

“We played much better football but India scored a lucky goal,” lamented Namibian coach Tom Saintfiet.

The proceedings got rough when Namibia started getting frustrated. And for India Yadav hit the post and Wadoo came tantalisingly close to scoring one more.

Namibia conceded another goal in the 54th minute when Pereira saw his free-kick find the target.

“We showed good progress, worked hard, our passing looked improved. Overall, we were more organised,” said a delighted Bob Houghton. The India coach also praised his defenders for an “excellent job.”

Saintfiet summed up well. “We have some very good natural players but they can't score goals. I could have shot the ball myself hundred times into the goal,” said Saintfiet.

India will play Vietnam and Yemen in Pune next month.

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