THE Indian National Football Team, nicknamed the Blue Tigers, ended their tour of the Caribbean with a defeat at the hands of the Golden Jaguars when they battled on Wednesday night at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence. The international friendly match had a weakened Jaguars side romping to a 2–1 victory over the visitors who put forth a respectable performance following their 3–0 loss to Trinidad and Tobago’s Soca Warriors on Sunday.
In the opening minutes of the match both teams showed that they were capable of functioning well as a unit as it only took a few minutes for them to get their plays organised.
India had some good corners while Guyana had some promising runs near goal; the good show continued for Guyana and after some effective waves of attacking they were rewarded with a 19th minute goal from Vurlon Mills who finished past the goalkeeper Subrata Paul with a fantastic header.
After a shower of rain which started a few minutes before Guyana toggled the score line and held up for about 15 minutes, there were mis-hits of the ball from both sides but the Jaguars continued to pile on the pressure of attacking.
Guyana could have gone up by two goals from a corner kick which found two Guyanese players inside the six-yard box with Paul out of it, but they did not find the final touch to put the ball away because it was slippery.
In the 36th minute, India equalised through a free kick taken by Steven Dias on the left flank about 12 yards outside the 18-yard box. His kick went around the wall and defeated keeper Ronson Williams to the top of the last post.
After the half-time break, a see-saw battle began to brew but Guyana shifted the weight with ball possession. The Indians had a shot or two on target but none to really trouble the Guyanese keeper.
Guyana then regained the lead through a single effort of Walter Moore in the 62nd minute where he made mince meat of the opposition’s defence while approaching the 18-yard and let off a shot that could not be denied by the Indian keeper Paul.
As the match progressed there were some twists and turns for both sides. Guyana were reduced to 10 players following a player receiving the red-card treatment for a foul tackle while the Blue Tigers’ became a bit frustrated in search of the equalizer with futile efforts until the regulation whistle.