BAHRAIN KNOCKS OUT INDIA FROM ASIAN CUP
Sharjah, UAE - Jamal Rashed's penalty in added time secured Bahrain a 1-0 win over India on Monday to give the West Asians a great chance of advancing to the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019 knockout stage.
With the hosts UAE and Thailand playing to a 1-1 draw, also on Monday, Bahrain finished third in Group A and will likely seal a place in the round-of-16 as one of the best four third-placed teams.
UAE won the group with five points while Thailand, defeated 4-1 by India, completed a comeback to seal second spot with four points, the same as Bahrain, but with a better headto-head record against the latter. India ended at the bottom of the group with three points.
India suffered early problems at the back when Anas Edathodika was forced off with an injury in the fourth minute and was replaced with Salam Ranjan Singh. Bahrain then applied pressure on the Blue Tigers’ defence as goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was called into action three minutes later when he saved Sayed Dhiya Saeed’s left footed shot from outside the box.
India was able to calm its nerves and responded in the 20th minute with Sunil Chhetri coming close to scoring for Stephen Constantine’s side but the striker failed to steer Gurpreet Singh’s long pass home.
The West Asians had a glimpse at goal in the 61st minute but Komail al Aswad failed to get his effort from outside the box on target. Against the run of play, India had a golden opportunity five minutes later from a set-piece but Sunil Chhetri struck his free-kick way over the bar.
As the minutes ticked away, Bahrain turned on the pressure and came close when substitute Mohamed Marhoon looked to have scored, only for the woodwork to deny him. India continued to repel Bahrain’s advances but finally conceded a penalty late in the game after Hamed al Shamsan was brought down by Pronay Halder.
Rashed made no mistake from the spot, sending Gurpreet Singh the wrong way.