Gritty India hold China to goalless draw in friendly
DEADLOCK Gurpreet’s heroic saves help secure draw in Asian Cup buildup tie
SUZHOU, CHINA: India snatched a remarkable goal-less draw against Italian coach Marcello Lippi’s China, walking away with equal honours in an international friendly on Saturday.
The game in Suzhou, near Shanghai, was the first match between the two Asian giants’ senior sides in 21 years. India had not beaten China in its last 17 attempts.
Although China controlled the pitch Saturday, its top 11 players were unable to put away a goal. Having failed to score in three matches on the trot, the Chinese forwards’ goal drought contin- ued. The Indians, especially the back-four of captain Sandesh Jhingan, Narayan Das, Pritam Kotal and Subhasish Bose, played their hearts out to hold their nerves until the end.
The home side had at least three clear chances, two of those denied by the woodwork, while their star striker Gao Lin failed to find the target several times.
Indian Custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stood like a rock in front of the Indian goal as he denied the home side at least on four occasions.
On one set piece from roughly 25 metres out, four Chinese defenders left India’s captain Sunil Chhetri uncovered on the far post, saved by his misplaced touch that sent the ball soaring over the crossbar.
In the second half, Chinese midfielder Yu Hai had India’s goalie behind him with the ball inches from the net, but was still unable to get it across the goal-line.
China and India together account for more than a third of the world’s population, but in football terms they are minnows, often beaten by countries a fraction of their size.
India is 97th in FIFA’S rankings and China 76 — sandwiched between Zambia and Lebanon — underlining how far adrift both are from the global football elite.
“It’s a very exciting match. Both teams tried to score. Off- course China had more possession and opportunities and we had expected this. We came here to give a good performance and the main thing for us was to get used to the standard of football which we would face in the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019,” Indian coach Stephen Constantine said.
Constantine had special words of praise for custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu: “I feel Gurpreet is an outstanding talent. He was three years in Norway and definitely played his role today in keeping a clean sheet for us.”
“Sandesh Jhingan is a fighter. He puts his body on the line and gave everything on the pitch as all the other boys do too,” added the English manager.