The Intercontinental Cup began today and two matches were played on the first day. While Lebanon face Vanuatu in the opening game, hosts India lock horns against Mongolia in the second match of the day. Lebanon and India both won their respective games. Lebanon defeated Vanuatu by a margin of 3-1 while Team India beat Mongolia 2-0.
It looked to be a comprehensive performance from the Men in Blue as they dominated the proceedings from the outset. Perhaps he will be disappointed that he could only score two goals in 95 minutes of play. India scored two goals within the first 14 minutes of play, with Sahal Abdul Samad and Lallianzuala Chhangte scoring for the team. He was easily India’s best player on the night and as expected, Anirudh Thapa was working tirelessly to keep his team ahead.
Mongolia didn’t have many chances and didn’t have much to write off. The one moment they will regret was a wrongly disallowed penalty claim where they could have easily scored at least one goal.
Meanwhile, India will be really disappointed to not be able to score many goals with 11 shots on target. In addition, he also had 65% of possession in the entire game. Perhaps, this increased in the second half of the game as they had 57% possession in the first 45 minutes.
Coach Igor Stimac will be worried about the lack of intensity in the latter stages of the game but will be happy that India have started their campaign well. They sit at the top of the points table along with Lebanon.