India go down to Singapore in friendly

Singapore - India went down 0-2 to Singapore in an international football friendly at the Chao Chu Kang Stadium here on Tuesday.

Khairul Amri and Fazrul Nawaz scored one each for the home side in the 43rd and 49th minutes.

Despite conceding a goal in the first half, India was the better of the two teams. They began aggressively.

In the ninth minute, Mehtab Hossain broke into the Singapore box but defender Harris Harun recovered in time to scuttle a Mehtab cross from inside the box.

The very next minute, Clifford Miranda latched on a defensive lapse but Harun managed to flick his pass at the last minute to prevent Sunil Chhetri from pulling the trigger.

Much against the run of play, Singapore surged into the lead when Amri intercepted a clearance down the right, entered the box and placed it past an advancing Subrata Pal.

Almost immediately, India had another chance but Sanju Pradhan’s cross agonizingly missed Chhetri’s forehead.

Changing over, Singapore didn’t allow India to settle down and doubled the score in the 49th minute – Fazrul Nawaz putting it past a diving Pal.

To make matters worse, Chhetri suffered a slight niggle and was eventually replaced by Robin Singh in the 62nd minute; Jewel Raja also came in for Sanju Pradhan.

But it was an uphill task and despite India going all out, the Singapore defence managed to keep everything at bay till the final whistle.