Am I being sarcastic if I tell that Chhetri is a better player than Torres at the moment? Probably not, as a double strike from him and 1 from Jeje ensured a 3-2 friendly win for India against Malaysia at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
It wasn’t a Barcelona vs Man United game where everyone knew the eventuality; it was a close game with many chances being created by both the teams.
While the Cricket game might have drawn the crowds to the Eden Gardens, there was still a reasonable crowd of about 5000 who were cheering(I hope, audio couldn’t be heard thanks to DD’s amazing broadcast) the men in Blue.
Physicality was not a problem for India, but the attacking third was where India were struggling in the entire game.
The first 10 minutes saw both the teams happily keeping possession and not trying anything fancy. The defensive mentality didn’t yield a single decent chance for either side in the first 30 minutes of the game.
India’s forwards Jeje and Chhetri had some excellent(Indian Standards) 1 to 1 passing but neither led to the creation of any decent chance.
India finally struck a goal in the 39th minute when a long ball was neatly intercepted by Chhetri who coolly converted the chance.
And when it was almost half time, the Indian defence was caught sleeping and Malaysia equalised through a simple goal.
Half time and it was 1 goal a piece, with the home team definitely looking more dangerous of the two sides.
It appeared that Savio Medeira did a Jose Mourinho as a rejuvenated Indian side scored with 2 minutes of the restart courtesy a brilliant through ball from Balgit to Chhetri who’s pass to Jeje resulted in the Indian team getting back their lead. The crowd erupted(again, I’m assuming as that’s what the commentator said) with joy.
In the 52nd minute, Jeje missed a 1 on 1 with the keeper which resulted in a corner that was neatly intercepted by the keeper again.
A minute later, Chhetri doubled his tally with a cool finish to give India a formidable 3-1 lead.
Just when the game looked like it was heading India’s way(A rarity), Malaysia pulled one goal back as the Indian defence was caught dosing again. A brilliant through ball from ... to ... resulted in a cool finish from the latter.
A nervy final few minutes ensued but India held onto their lead and finally came out 3-2 winners in a classic(DD’s broadcast made it look like a 70’s game, with colour of course) encounter.
