India shake off summer rust with a 2-1 comeback victory against Mauritius in Mumbai

AS EXPECTED , CONSTANTINE HANDED 3 PLAYERS THEIR DEBUTS as India came back from a goal down to win the game.

In the first minute Borges dispossessed Kevin Bru in the attacking third to foil a bid of attack. Mauritius used the right full back Dorza to allow him to overlap and send in a cross for multiple waiting in the box but the cross was overhit. Bru saw most of the ball in midfield to distribute the ball evenly.

It took Mauritius seven minutes to register their first shot on goal. Joseph’s shot was a low one and Paul dived forward to grab that with ease. Robin was kept at bay from the start. A rare moment in the 12th minute saw Das come ahead to play a wall pass with Robin but Dorza used his experience see the ball out.

Mauritius constant pressure and knocking saw them get their reward. In the 14th minute, the Indian defence was scrambling to deal with a cross from the left leaving players open. A cross took a deflection from the Indian defence and Jocelyn was there on top of the box to shoot it past Subrata to give the visitors the lead.

India responded with a right fullback Kotal sent in a great cross in the box but Jeje could not find any one with the headed knock down.  Robin consistently went down with ease and the referee clearly never was interested. In the 21st mminunte he was clearly fouled near the top right of the box to win a free kick. Das took the kick, it was deep, Jhingan tracking it, could not keep it in.

In the 28th minute, the captain Bru, made a great run dribbling easily past players and made his way close to the attacking third. He was brought down rather inappropriately but the referee seemed disinterested in awarding a free kick. India had slowed down their game and were waiting to get the ball in the attacking half. At the same time Mauritius has got very comfortable on the ball. The number of one-touch passes in midfield showed the dominance and use of possession.
The Blue Tigers had to wait for 36 minutes to get level. A beautiful through pass slipped in by Borges to Robin created a 1v1 chance for the tall striker with a defender on his back to add to pressure. Robin kept his calm and struck sweetly with his left to find the far bottom corner for the equaliser.
Mauritius found Joseph free on the left flank and he turned and twisted to send in a low cross in the box but only to find Subrata’s gloves. The score at halftime was a goal a piece.

At half Time, Constantine made three changes. Two of them were debuts. Amrinder replaced Subrata Paul in goal after the break. Nikhil Poojary came on in place of Jackichand. Balwant came on in place of goal scorer Robin Singh, his first appearance for the national team since 2014. Mauritius made the first move. Joseph was released by Bru on the left wing and hi cross for Sarah in the center was not controlled well and Amrinder collected it well.

The second half was more active was speedy from India. Narzary was alone and received a low rolling ball on the top of the box. His curling effort was way off target. India played the first 15 minutes in the attacking half and it was a sign of progress from the first half.

The continual possession in the opponent half paid off with a goal from Balwant. It took him 17 minutes to get a goal on his debut. A great ball to Jeje was fed first time to Balwant with one-touch and he made no mistake to knock it past the keeper. India took the lead in the 62nd minute.

Minutes later the duo of Balwant and Jeje were in the mix again. Long ball to Balwant saw him head to Jeje behind him. Jeje tried to go acrobatic with a full volley but his shot was blocked. Nikhil Poojary impressed in midfield for winning the ball multiple times. Balwant too, dropped by often to help out when India were not in possession.

Mauritius were not far behind in the attack often using the left wing to lead the attacks. The visitors too made a couple of substitutions in the second half. Rafique replaced Lyngdoh later in the half.

Mauritius made a good combination move when two subs Chiffone an Aza combined. The final shot was well blocked in front of the box. A delightful attack could have ended in India’s third goal when Rafique played a ball to Narzary on the left side of the inside of the box. He blasted the ball to the advertising hoarding behind the goal.

About 10 minutes from time, Jeje was presented with a brilliant opportunity when he was at the end of an intended pass between the last two defenders near the halfline. Jeje had to wait for support to arrive which ended the counter attack chance for India. Jerry came on to replace Narzary and it meant Constantine was going defensive with an extra defender.

India had two nervous moments when the defence was in sixes and sevens during set pieces in the final 5 minutes. Mauritius had a pin ball going in the Indian box. Multiple shots being taken but all being blocked.

Manvir the young lad promoted from the Under-23 squad replaced Jeje for the fourth Indian debut in the game. He would get his chance to score his first for the country when he was in space near the half line and the keeper was way off line and Manvir went for the full blooded long effort only to miss by a feet or so.

Balwant was between two defenders in lots of space ahead of him in the open Mauritius half his touch was heavy allowing the defenders to close him down denying the chance to come close to goal.

The victory comes as a relief for Constantine but he has a job in his hand now; the gaps in defence and an uncoordinated midfield needs immediate fixing before the Blue Tigers take on St Kitts & Nevis on 24th August in another international friendly and then face Macau in an Asian Cup qualifier game early next month.