Ten man Bahrain slammed five goals while conceding two against a dogged Indian team which suffered an honourable defeat in their Group C Asian Cup football league encounter in Doha on Friday.
The Indians conceded a penalty in the 8th minute –– which the impressive Faouzi Aaish converted –– but then fought back to snatch the equaliser through Gourmangi Singh in the next minute. But it was too good to last. For the fleet-footed player with the silken touch Ismaeel Abdulatif glided home three goals in the space of a quarter of an hour and Bahrain went to half-time leading 4-1. The dreams of a billion Indians and screaming thousands in the stands vanished for ever.
Abdulatif rounded off the scoring in the 77th minute with a brilliant low right-footer after fienting past Anwar. India had reduced the margin when a Rennedy Singh shot struck the horizontal, lobbed in and bounced out. Abhishek Yadav’s header met the same fate but Sunil Chettri bulged the net with a diving header.
Bahrain started off on a hurried note and their tendency to indulge in long passes saw them yield possession without much provocation. But once they began to stroke the ball around with short passes and deft touches, they took control and toyed with the Indians. A sense of complacency crept into the Bahrain ranks and that allowed the Indians to launch a couple of good sorties. But the Bahrain defence stood firm and denied them scoring chances.
Bahrain had the ability to switch the attack without the slightest indication of purpose. With the experienced wing backs Surkumar Singh on the right and Rennedy Singh on the left struggling to cope with the speedy forays by Aaish and Abdullatif, Bahrain were able to pierce through at will and score.
A quarter of an hour into the second half, Aaish picked up a second yellow for simulation and was consequently banished. A man short, Bahrain had to give away some space for the Indians and the blue-shirted men did lace together some good moves that lasted only till the top of the box. Bahrain did not compromise in defence and soaked up the pressure to seal win.