International Friendly: Azerbaijan versus India Preview - in Dubai

After getting defeated by Oman by a huge margin (5-1) India is headed to Dubai in order to meet Azerbaijan in an International friendly match to be held on 27-2-2012. Azerbaijan is around 50 ranks above the Indian national football team. India will be looking the match as a part of their preparations for the upcoming AFC Challenge Cup next month that to be held in Nepal.  

 

 

 

Match: India vs Azerbaijan football match
Event: International friendly
Date & Time: 27 February 5.30 PM IST, 12.00 PM GMT
Venue: Sevens Stadium, Dubai

 

India coach Savio Medeira hasn't decided on his starting eleven for tomorrow with some players still carrying some niggles here and there with Savio saying, "The intention stays to try as many players as possible," which has earned Savio a lot of criticism back home from the media and fans then after winning the 2011 SAFF Cup in December and the good second half performance against FC Bayern Munich in January 2012, the expectations back home have risen.

Against Oman the new look Team India did look out of sorts for a great part of the match as they suffered a 1-5 defeat. Speaking about it Savio said, "This is what football is all about. We need to be patient. The new boys will settle down," only to repeat, "But we need to be patient."

Azerbaijan are ranked 109th in the FIFA world rankings against the 95th rank of Oman, but they play their qualifiers in the much tougher Europe so their ranking might have little to say. This is India's last qualifier before the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup next month in Nepal and ideally Savio would play his starting eleven for the upcoming tournament in this match. But with certain players still unfit an experimental Indian side is once more to take the field with hopefully some more experience in there through players like Syed Rahim Nabi and Rocus Lamare on the field.

Azerbaijan are currently in Dubai like India for a training camp preparating for their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers later in the year. They played Singapore on Friday and were held to a late two-all draw by the Southeast Asian nation, while they play India tomorrow and then Palestine on Wednesday.

Speaking about Azerbaijan Savio said, "They are a strong side and we know they will come hard at us."

Azerbaijan are coached by seasoned German Berti Vogts, who with Germany won the 1996 European Championships; and thereafter went on to coach Bayer 04 Leverkusen and then the national sides of Kuwait, Scotland and Nigeria before taking over Azerbaijan in April 2008.

There will be no live telecast on Television from the match, but those interested can watch the game live on www.affatv.az (the official website of the Azerbaijan FF).

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India beat Malaysia 3-2 in international friendly

A Sunil Chhetri brace and a piece by Jeje Lalpekhlua gave Savio Medeira a maiden win in the Goan's second match as the head coach of India...

The Indian national team recorded a well deserved 3-2 victory over higher-ranked Malaysia in an international friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Wednesday evening.

Sunil Chhetri was the star for Team India as he scored twice and played a part in the other goal which was netted by Jeje Lalpekhlua. For Malaysia, Safee Sali bagged a brace as the ASEAN nation went down to a team ranked nine spots below them in the FIFA Rankings.

As indicated before the match, India coach Savio Medeira made eight changes to the eleven that started in Guwahati with Jeje Lalpekhlua starting alongside Sunil Chhetri upfront while Baldeep Singh Jr. and Rocus Lamare formed the central midfield partnership.

Francis Fernandes was given his international debut while Subhasish Roy Chowdhury started in goal with Syed Rahim Nabi being given the captain’s armband and was operating at right back as Debabrata Roy started at left back and Anwar Ali partnered Gouramangi Moirangthem in central defence.

Malaysia coach K.Rajagopal made four changes to his starting eleven with star striker Safee Sali starting upfront but influential central defender Norhafiz Zamani was only named on the bench.

India started the game brightly but sadly there was a very poor turnout inside the Salt Lake Stadium, even though this was India’s first international match in Kolkata after five years.

Despite India’s good start, it was Malaysia who had the first real chance of the game as Safee Sali had a lot of time and space to shoot at India’s goal after being well setup by Abdul Yahaya but Sali blasted his effort off target.

Savio Medeira’s side then kept the ball well in midfield with Rocus Lamare pulling the strings but their only real chance in the first quarter was a header from Sunil which was straight into the hands of Malaysia keeper Jeevanatham.

Both sides were struggling to create openings but India were seeing more off the ball and in the 38th minute a free-kick from Lalrindika tested Jeevanatham, who parried it away and was lucky that no Indian player was first to the rebound.

A minute later though, India opened the scoring through Sunil, who got on the end of a long through ball from Syed Rahim Nabi and the Delhi lad slotted the ball past Jeevanatham with a scuffed effort.

Malayasia equalized six minutes later as Safee Sali rounded off a fine team move to make it 1-1. The move was started by Safiq Rahim, whose cross from midfield picked out Abu Samah, who played it to Safee and the Indonesian-based striker first dribbled past Anwar before finding the back of the net.

India made a fantastic start to the second half as they took the lead inside the first two minutes through Jeje Lalpekhlua. Sunil Chhetri played a good pass behind the Malaysian back four for Francies Fernandes, whose low cross was easily tapped in by Jeje.

Four minutes later, Jeje could have scored his second and given India a two goal advantage as he was setup by Sunil Chhetri but the Pune FC striker could only earn a corner off Jeevanatham despite being in a one-on-one position.

But India did have their two-goal cushion a minute later as Sunil Chhetri produced a neat finish to score his second of the game. Once again debutant Francis Fernandes was involved as his low cross was blocked by Jeevanatham but it fell to the feet of Sunil who found the back of the net despite the presence of Malaysian defenders on the goal line.

It wasn’t 3-1 for long as at the hour mark Safee Sali got behind the Indian backline and easily scored past Subhasish to bring Malaysia right back into the game. It was poor defending on India’s part as there was too much space between the two central defenders and Safee made the most of it.

Straight after that goal, Anwar came off with an injury and was replaced by Mahesh Gawli while Samir Naik replaced Debabrata Roy and Malaysia also changed their keeper with Ramli Mohd Sharbinee coming on for Jeevanatham.

India played a much controlled game after that as they looked to protect their slender advantage but Sunil went close in the 68th minute when he produced a fine save off Sharbinee.

Both coaches continued to make changes in the last twenty minutes with Savio Medeira bringing on Anthony Pereira and Jewel Raja in place of Francis Fernandes and Baldeep Singh Jr. respectively,

Malaysia’s best chance of making it 3-3 came in the 81st minute when substitute Zambri Mohd Muttymeen got free behind the Indian defence but his shot was very well saved by Subhasish for a corner.

Neither Sunil Chhetri nor Safee Sali could complete their hat-tricks as both were taken off by their respective coaches in the dying minutes.

In the end, India held on for a deserved 3-2 win to give Savio Medeira his first victory as India coach and the result also boosts India’s chances of improving their FIFA Ranking later this month.

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