India beat Cambodia 3-2 in a breathless encounter. India hadn’t won an away friendly in over a decade with last win coming back in 2005. India who are ranked 132nd in Fifa rankings, were troubled in regular intervals by a young Cambodian side who ranked 173rd.
India held their nerve and successfully defended the one goal lead they had till the final whistle. The men in blue got off to a slow start and that invited a lot of unwanted pressure from the Cambodians. There were quite a few close calls before India unexpectedly took the lead. Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring with a goal from a corner kick. Chhetri capitalized from poor keeping and marking from the defenders and probably scored one of the easiest goals of his career.
But Cambodia caught India just as they were celebrating when they scored as soon as play resumed. The first half hence ended with a goal each for both sides. India came out with all gun blazing in the second half to extend their lead to 3-1. Both the goalscorers, Jeje and Sandesh Jhingan had come on as half time substitutes. Jeje has now scored nine goals in as many appearances for India.
Cambodia pulled one back towards the end. They kept applying pressure throughout the match and India were forced to defend deep and rely on counter attacks. But India kept their composure and Jeje almost scored his second on a counter attack in dying minutes. India won the match in front of 70,000 home fans.
India play next match against Myanmar on 28th March in Yangon.
Watch all goals and some of the key moments of the match below.
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