India is not really known for its football with them not making it in the FIFA world cup even once in so many years. This time too India has faced 5 straight losses which pretty much guarantee their exit from the qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup but after the 5th loss, they finally tasted a victory by defeating Guam by 1-0.
This victory was not an easy one with India playing the second half with only 10 players on the field after one of the players Sehnaj Singh was taken off the field due to a red card for a dangerous tackle. This happened in the 41st minute of the match but in his defense the match was being played in the rain and the conditions was pretty slippery.
After this victory too India are placed in the last position in Group D with 3 points with Guam right above them on 7 points. This is not going to help them book a final seat for the 2018 World Cup but should give them a good chance to quality for the 2019 Asian Cup.
The only goal scored in the match was in the 10th minute when Robin Singh scored at the Kanteerava Stadium giving India the early lead and eventually it turning out to be the winning goal. Robin playing in front of his home crowd of Bengaluru FC got a pass from the captain Sunil Chhetri which he cut into the goal box by beating the defender and the diving goalkeeper.
At the 41st minute the home crowd got a shock when Sehnaj was given the red card for tackling Justin Lee on the high putting that player down. In spite of being handicapped the Indian team managed to defend very well to keep the scorecard to what it read all through the second half and the major credit for this goes to the goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu who saved numerous goals when the Guam boys went all out in the second half putting up pressure on the Indians to score the equalizer.
Now the winners of the groups and four runner ups will move on to the final round of qualifying which will give them a chance to play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Iran and China currently are on top with 18 points from the 6 matches that they played. Apart from that the following 24 teams will compete for the 12 slots among the 24 for the 2019 Asian Cup.
rounak