India lose to Uzbekistan in exhibition match

The Indian football team's preparation for the Asian Games suffered a mild setback when it lost the second and final exhibition match against Uzbekistan 0-1 at the Ambedkar Stadium in Delhi, on Wednesday.

The Indians showed marked improvement in their performance compared to the showing in the first match on Sunday, which they won 2-0, but one defensive error in the 66th minute proved costly.

Medio Vagapov Ruslan struck the match-winner to seal the fate of the hosts.

There are areas the team has to work on although coach Stephen Constantine refused to go into the details. The defence looked ragged and there was the agonising failure to finish the good work done in the midfield.

"They converted the one chance they had in the second half while we failed to capitalise on three open chances," Constantine said. "But I am not going to get carried away by the result. We will look back and analyse the match, and take it from there."

Captain Baichung Bhutia, however, was more forthright.

"We lacked character, and we need to show better attitude... it is not that we were overconfident but we lacked the fighting spirit," he said.

For once, the hosts enjoyed greater ball possession - although it might be said that the higher-ranked Uzbeks were relaxed - and the midfield worked in unison.

Abishek Yadav and Alex Ambrose were scratchy in their work upfront, and though Venkatesh and Tomba Singh combined well in the middle, not one genuine attempt at the goal materialised till the break.

In the 20th minute, a fine cross by Samir Naik was wasted, and Naik's pass to Yadav in the 36th minute was ruled off-side. Two minutes later, a tackle on top of the Uzbekistan penalty area gave them a free-kick, but Renedy Singh was way off the mark.

Bhutia's introduction at the start of the second half though injected some vigour into the team. The Indian skipper showed more creativity than he did on Sunday, and his runs in the middle and incisive passes to wingers began to disturb the rival defence.

The Indians saw another chance go abegging when Tomba Singh collected a pass from Bhutia on the right and ran 30-yards before executing a perfect cross to the centre but Yadav was off-side.

As Uzbekistan, the 1994 Hiroshima Asian Games gold medallists, increased the tempo, the Indian defence began to feel the pressure. A weak clearance by Parveen Kumar inside the penalty area allowed Vagapov Ruslan to slot home the winner.

It was then left to Bhutia to inspire the team to carry on. He had his own chance in the 73rd minute but his header landed dead at the feet of Uzbek goal stopper Ikramov Mamur.