A confident Indian football team beat minnows Macau 2-0 in the group league encounter of the Asian Cup qualifying round. Striker Balwant Singh who replaced Eugenesen Lyngdoh in the half time found the target in the 57th and 82nd minutes respectively to help India win their third successive match in the qualifying tournament.
The home team successfully managed to defend the the Indian strikers. India missed to score when in the 37th minute a left-footer from Eugenesen Lyngdoh hit the horizontal bar. The other chance in the first half was a neat centre from Narayan Das in the 40th minute that Jeje Lalpheklhua could not head inside the post.
But in the second half, India moved more aggressively and in the 57th minute, it was Narayan again sent a floater inside the box. Balwant timed his jump to perfection as he angled his header with a marker on tow. The second goal in the 82nd minute came as Balwant took advantage of Macau’s defensive lapse by snatching the ball from the opposition just outside the corner of the 18-yard box. His neat placement ensured an a goal for India taking the lead to 2-0.
India is now comfortably placed at the top of the table with 9 points. Currently ranked 96th in the FIFA list, India had beaten Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar in earlier matches of the group. Sunil Chettri had scored the lone goal in both the matches. However, the skipper was off-colour in this match as he was brilliantly man-marked by the Macau defenders.
