2012 Nehru Cup: Nepal hold India to goalless draw

Defending champions India were held goalless by Nepal in their third match of the 2012 Nehru Cup at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi. India started the tournament with back-to-back victories against Syria and Maldives and now have seven points from three matches, while Nepal gained their first point of the competition.

India coach Wim Koevermans made two changes to his starting line-up with injured Nirmal Chetri replaced by Denzil Franco as right wing-back, while Sanju Pradhan was replaced by the more experienced Anthony Pereira on the right wing.

Due to the continuing monsoon rains the match kicked-off 30 minutes late, but it didn't help a struggling India against a fighting and committed Nepali team. In the first session India wasn't able to recreate what it has shown against Syria and the Maldives as Nepal were the more attacking of the two sides though goal chances were a rarity at both ends.

Wim Koevermans changed from his preferred 4-4-1-1 to a more classic 4-4-2 formation bringing on tall Robin Singh for winger Clifford Miranda after the breather to try and add weight upfront.

India got more of the action after the break with Nepal tiring the longer the match lasted, but India could not really utilise this fact. India had a chance in the 53rd minute as Sunil Chhetri held on to the ball, dribbled and then Mehtab let fly with the ball going over.

Both teams continued to face problems with the difficult ground conditions and India's best chance of the match came in the 81st minute when substitute Jewel Raja broke lose from the right, but his shot just about missed the goal. The following corner also caused worry for Nepal, but their alert keeper Kiran Chemjong collected a good timed shot from Robin Singh.

Towards the end Nepal tried delay tactics to keep the draw intact, but referee Vladislav Tseytlin from Uzbekistan took no nonsense and handed out to yellow cards before giving a red card to Bikash Singh Chhetri for arguing following a free-kick given to India.

It ended goalless with Nepal happy about the result, but the first setback for India under new coach Wim Koevermans as India was never able to adopt to the difficult ground conditions and couldn't switch to a more direct approach the trying to play possession football.

India's next opponent will be Cameroon on Friday, August 31.


MATCH STATS

India 0-0 Nepal - Goals: none

India
1-Subrata Pal - 2-Denzil Franco, 3-Raju Gaikwad, 19-Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 22-Syed Rahim Nabi - 14-Anthony Pereira, 20-Mehtab Hussain, 6-Lenny Rodrigues (77' 28-Jewel Raja Sheikh), 15-Clifford Miranda (46' 24-Robin Singh) - 26-Francis Fernandes - 11-Sunil Chhetri [C]

Nepal
16-Kiran Chemjong - 19-Sagar Thapa [C], 32-Rohit Chand, 3-Biraj Maharjan, 5-Bikash Singh Chhetri, 13-Sandip Rai - 15-Raju Tamang, 23-Jagjeet Shrestha, 17-Bhola Nath Silwal (90+2' 10-Anil Gurung) - 11-Jumanu Rai (88' 9-Santosh Sahukhala), 21-Bharat Khawas

Referee
Vladislav Tseytlin (Uzbekistan)