An
epical battle ended at Jawharlal Nehru stadium, Noida with India’s win by a
penalty shoot-out 7-6 following a 2 all score in schedule time & extended
extra time against the much superior & well known football nation Cameroon,
India retained the Nehru cup at home once again & completed the hat-trick
of winning Nehru cup in back to back three successive times. It should be
counted one of the best wins by Indian side in any kind of tournament.
Indian
coach Wim Kovermans started with 4-4-1-1 formation with a lone striker Sunil
Chhetri in the upfront, Nirmal Chettri made a return into the lineup after
having recovered from his injury while Sanju Pradhan was preferred over Anthony
Pereira on the right wing. On the other hand, the visitors started with a 3-5-2
formation with Ebanga Bertin and Kologny Merime being the two strikers with
Thierry Makon occupying the space behind them as an attacking midfielder.
Throughout the match we have seen the
weakness of Cameroon defence in aerial ball, they repeatedly succumbed themselves
against aerial balls, the first goal of Indian side was the fruit of that. India
have taken the lead in the 19th minute of the game by an awesome
header by Gourmangi Singh following a brilliant free-kick of Clifford Miranda
from the rightside, Cameroon defence remained standstill visitors.
Just after conceding the goal the African
Lions looked they are awaken up from their sleep so it didn't take much time to
find the equaliser. Raju Gaikwad's clearance fell straight to Makon Thierry,
who shot past with a long ranger sitter from outside the top box to Indian
custodian Subrata Paul in the 29th minute.
Cameroon took the lead once again in the 54th minute when Thierry Makon’s flag-kick saw Kingue Mpondo rise above Nirmal Chettri to head the ball home.
India shifted to a 4-4-2 formation in the 64th minute bringing Robin Singh for winger Sanju Pradhan. His height added another dimension to India's attacks.
In the 78th minute of the game India graced by a penalty while Camerron goalkeeper N.Hosea clipped Chhetri inside the box which left the referee no option but to point towards the spot. The Indian skipper coolly slotted the ball home by sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it 2-2.
Match remain 2 all in the entire schedule time of 90 minutes & headed towards extra time. India had two golden chances of taking the lead in the opening half of extra time but Chhetri skied his shot from three yards out while Robin made a complete mess from a free-header. Thereafter, Joseph Momaso and Charles Eloundou of the visitors hit the side-netting in the second half of the extra time.
Stalemate was not broken at the end of extra time & match went towards penalty shoot-out, In the penalties, the Indians held their nerves & composure as they were 100% successful from the spot-kicks. Robin Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Denzil Franco, Mehtab Hossain & Clifford Miarnda scored for India in the shoot-out, while Ashu, Ousumuaila Baba, Paul Bebey & Kingue Mpondo scored for the visitors. Thierry Makon made a hash of his effort as his shot came off the bar which resulted in India defending their Nehru Cup crown successfully.
Congrats Indian side, congrats the
newcomer Dutch coach Wim Kovermans. According to current ranking the African
lions are far ahead than Indian side, while they are currently in 59th
position & India are in 168th.
They played six times in the final stage of World Cup, they are the
three times champion of African Nations cup. But Indian guys fought
braveheartedly keeping all those things aside from their mind.