Shillong, Aug 30: India’s era under newly-appointed head coach Khalid Jamil began with a 2-1 victory against Tajikistan in their first match of the CAFA Nations Cup 2025 Group B at the Hisor Central Stadium in Hisor, Tajikistan, on Friday.
Anwar Ali (5’) began the scoring early on and Sandesh Jhingan (13’) soon doubled the lead for India before Shahrom Samiev (23’) pulled one back for the hosts.
India began on the front foot early on, catching Tajikistan by surprise by going on the attack with long throws. Muhammed Uvais Moyikkal, who was handed his first international cap by Jamil, launched his long throw from the left, which pin-balled in the box, before a stray Jhingan header fell to Anwar, whose looping header went in despite the best efforts of the Tajikistan defenders.
Anwar returned the favour in the 13th minute, when his cross from the right was met with a header by Rahul Bheke. While Bheke’s effort was blocked by Tajikistan goalkeeper Muhriddin Hasanov, the rebound fell kindly to Jhingan, who smashed it in.
Tajikistan, however, came back in the 23rd minute. Samiev was played through between the Indian defensive lines and flicked it past goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu to halve the deficit.
If the Tajikistan attack lacked penetration in the first half, they had certainly mended their ways after the changeover. It required a couple of extraordinary saves by Sandhu for India to maintain the status quo right after the restart. Even after his heroics, a Shervoni Mabatshoev header went wide.
The entire stadium erupted in the 71st minute, when Vikram Partap Singh was adjudged to have committed a foul on Tajikistan substitute Rustam Soirov inside the Indian penalty area. Referee Uzbek Norsafarov Firdavs pointed to the spot.
A penalty earned, however, is not a penalty scored and Sandhu exhibited extreme composure as he prevented Soirov from converting the spot-kick. The India goalkeeper, named captain in this match, had dived to his right, only to see that Soirov had gone for the middle. However, he stuck his leg out to produce a magnificent save.
Sandhu produced two more late saves, the first a reflex save off a close-range effort by Nuriddin Khamrokulov, while the second was a routine catch from a Vahdat Hanonov header as the hosts ran out of time.
The victory against Tajikistan was not just three points earned. It was the first competitive victory for the Blue Tigers since November 2023. It was also the first time in exactly a decade that an India head coach had won his first match in charge of the Blue Tigers dugout. The last head coach to do that was Stephen Constantine, when India defeated Nepal 2-0 in their World Cup Qualifiers in 2015.
India will face Iran on Monday in their second group game. Iran beat Afghanistan 3-1 earlier on Friday.
(All India Football Federation photo)
