AFC Under-16 Championship: India draw China 2-2, but out of competition

The India Under-16 boys held China to a two-all draw through an injury-time Myron Mendes penalty in their final Group D match at the Rah Ahan Stadium in Tehran, but it was not enough to progress to the quarterfinals as India finished bottom of the group with two points from three matches.

With Syria winning 1-0 against Uzbekistan, the west Asians top the group with five points ahead of Uzbekistan who finish on four points and China were denied by India's late goal a place in the last eight as they finish on three points after three draws just ahead of India on two.

China put pressure on India from the start, but it was India who went ahead as a nice Daniel Lalhlimpuia finish gave them the 1-0 lead in the 19th minute, but China didn't take long to turn things around as first Wang Jinxian equalised a couple of minutes later and then the Reds took the lead through a Zhang Yuning strike in the 33rd minute. At the break China led 2-1, but India were lucky not to have conceded more.

After the break it was again an open game, but not set of defenders mainly stood their ground and the goalkeepers were rarely tested. India did have their chances as they knew only a win might keep them in the competition, but only an injury time penalty goal from Myron Mendes helped India to equalise which was not enough. It ended 2-2 between China and India with both teams eliminated.


MATCH STATS

China 2-2 (2-1) India - Goals: 0-1 Daniel Lalhlimpuia (19'), 1-1 Wang Jinxian (21'), 2-1 Zhang Yuning (33'), 2-2 Myron Mendes (90+4')

China
12-Chen Wei - 2-Li Hailong (87' 15-Chen Weiming), 3-Huang Chuang, 5-Li Xiaoming, 11-Liu Hao - 4-Yao Daogang, 10-Chen Kerui (84' 8-Lin Liangming), 13-Hu Jinghang (90+4' 18-Li Zhiheng), 22-Chen Yi - 9-Wang Jinxian [C], 17-Zhang Yuning
Unused Subs: 1-Chen Zhao, 21-Fan Jinming; 6-Yang Liyu, 7-Zhang Xiuwe, 14-Sun Weizhe, 16-Huang Cong, 19-Xu Qigong, 20-Jiang Minwen, 23-Wu Wei

India
20-Supratim Bhattacharjee - 8-Myron Mendes, 4-Gurba Gagrai, 7-Mohammed Sajid Dhot, 11-Sarthak Golui - 15-Alen Deory, 18-Germanpreet Singh, 22-Khiangte Lalramzuava [C], 3-Raja Rawat (77' 21-Issac Vanmalswama) - 10-Uttam Rai (87' 13-Vanlalduatsanga), 14-Daniel Lalhlimpuia
Unused Subs: 1-Agaipal Singh, 23-Avinash Kumar; 2-Nitin Jyal, 5-Jimmy Maibam, 6-Manraj Singh, 9-Nabin Rabha, 12-Vivekananda Sagayaraj, 16-Kamalpreet Singh, 17-Geremsha Basumatary, 19-Hanan Javed Nellikkavil

Referee
Naser Al-Ghafary (Jordan)