India Under-19 lose to Iran

The India Under-19 boys lost their second match 0-3 against the hosts Iran in the AFC Under-19 Championship qualifiers in Group C at the Takhti Stadium in Tehran.

The Indian boys found the early going tough. The temperature close to freezing, something which most boys aren't accustomed to; add to it an early goal for Iran through a perfectly curled corner taken by Ahmad Abdollahzadeh in the 8th minute and India had a mountain to climb. But the boys played a good game giving their more famed rivals a run for their money, but the few chances India created were wasted. Iran took the 1-0 lead into the break.

After the breather India continued to press for the equaliser. But much against the run of play, Alireza Jahan converted from the spot in the 67th minute; a penalty which Head Coach Colm Toal found hard to digest. "It was a harsh penalty and it killed the match for us. We were very much in the match till then," Colm said at the post-match press conference. It would be Alireza Jahan who would make it 3-0 for Iran in the 81st minute as India missed a good chance to get a better result against the Iranians.

India next face Uzbekistan in a crucial encounter on November 4, which could decide if the team has any chances of progressing or not. In the days other match Turkmenistan U-19 defeated Pakistan U-19 2-1.


India Under-19: 23-Ravi Kumar; 14-Narayan Das, 4-Bikramjit Singh, 3-Sonu, 16-Pritam Kotal; 12-Brandon Fernandes (70' 24-Sunny Singh), 7-Prabir Das (82' 10-Sumeet Passi), 9-Sehnaj Singh (70' 20-Johnychand Singh), 8-Pronay Halder; 11-Holicharan Narzary, 13-Malswamfela [C]
Unused Substitutes: 21-Albino Giovanni Gomes, 26-Mohammad Moniruzzaman Ansari, 2-Pawan Kumar, 5-Arijeet Singh, 6-Akashdeep Singh, 15-Edwin Gosula, 17-Rajinder Kumar, 33-Tirthankar Sarkar