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Intercontinental Cup: Chhetri scores a hat-trick as India run riot in opener over Chinese Taipei

Chhetri led the carnage with a hat-trick while Udanta, Halder score their first in India colours against Chinese Taipei in the Intercontinental Cup.

By Naveen Peter
 Indian player Sunil Chhetri (Blue jersey no. 11) and Chinese Taipei player Wei-Chuan Chen (White jersey no. 6) vie for the ball during the Hero Intercontinental football Cup in Mumbai.

Mumbai, June 1: Summer is not the time to be in Mumbai. If the unbearable heat doesn’t trouble you, the unforgiving humidity levels that the city experiences are sure to leave you hunting for some shelter.

And on Friday (June 1), Chinese Taipei were the ones to feel the brunt. Not only did the heat and the humidity bother the visitors, the Indian team too showed no mercy as they pumped in five goals to record a convincing 5-0 win to get their Intercontinental Cup campaign off to a bright start.

It was their skipper who led the rout with a quality hat-trick with goals in the 14th, 34th and the 62nd minutes while Udanta Singh got his first goal in India colours with a fine left-footer in the 48th minute and Pranoy Halder kick-started his international goal tally with a controlled strike from outside the box in the 78th minute.



This competition was meant to provide the Indian head coach Stephen Constantine with an opportunity to test his squad as he builds the Indian team for the all-important AFC Asian Cup, 2019. And the Englishman showed no hesitation and rolled out a make-shift midfield with the young Anirudh Thapa taking over the creative role in place of the much experienced Rowllin Borges.

The defence also had a new face with Bengaluru FC’s Subhasish Bose making his international debut against a Taipei side that could barely challenge even a college team on the night. But the changes barely seemed to matter as India were on the money from the word go.

Barely minutes on the clock, a fast counter saw Subhasish find Jeje Lalpekhluah with his pass. The Mizo striker threaded the ball for Udanta who entered the box and squared the ball for his skipper. But to their dismay, Chhetri’s strike was whisker wide of the post. That, however, was the only time he would miss the mark.

Chhetri soon made amends as he combined with his strike partners Jeje to give India the lead. The Bengaluru FC striker ran in between the two Taipei centre-backs to direct a through ball past Wen-Chieh Pan in the visitors’ goal. He could have soon added another goal to his name, but this time the Taipei ’keeper showed great awareness to narrow the angle and deflect Chhetri’s goal-bound shot to safety with his trailing leg.

Though Taipei’s upcoming star Chao Chen tried his bit to create something for his side, with no support and an imposing Indian defence in front of him, he was made to wait for another day while India continued with their onslaught. Closer to the end of the half, Chhetri added the second for the night with some precision. This time Thapa starting the move from the middle to find Jeje, who laid it up for the skipper.

Post the break, though Taipei through in new faces in search of a goal, nothing came their way while India continued their domination in ridiculous fashion.

Minutes into the second half it was Udanta’s turn to test the Taipei ’keeper. And the pacy winger did that in fine fashion. Found with ample space inside the opposition box, the Bengaluru winger made a fool of his marker by going past him with some exquisite footwork and curl in an inch-perfect strike of his weaker foot for his first goal for the nation.

The carnage was not to stop there as Chhetri brought up his third goal with no trouble and Halder fired in a controlled striker from outside the box that flew right into the top corner in no time.

Story first published: Friday, June 1, 2018, 22:15 [IST]
Other articles published on Jun 1, 2018