Kolkata: Farukh Choudhary returned to the India team after three years and scored with an audacious lob in the 1-1 draw against Vietnam at Nam Dinh City on Saturday. That India’s first goal under Manolo Marquez came in his third match and was the second field goal in all of 2024 is one example of how difficult the year has been. That they are still looking for a win after 10 matches is another.
If there is a silver lining to this cloud it is this: Choudhary has started the Indian Super League season well and can be a goalscoring option in a country starved of that. Quite the journeyman, the 27-year-old from Maharashtra has represented Kerala Blasters and Mumbai City but it was at Jamshedpur FC that Owen Coyle saw potential in this tall, lean forward to get him to Chennaiyin FC.
His last touch before being substituted in the 68th minute fetched a corner-kick. With one of his first, Choudhary tested Vietnam’s Czechoslovakia-born goalkeeper Nguyen Filip from range and again in the 27th minute, this time from inside the six-yard box and after a no-look pass from Brandon Fernandes.
It was one of the rare chances India had in the first half. They started the second better by pushing Suresh Wangjam up and Lalliuanzuala Chhangte drifting inside. Till then, Vietnam always seemed to have an extra player in the middle third. Choudhary was ponderous once but the next time he got the ball he was so swift that Vietnam skipper Que Ngoc Hai lost a one-on-one duel. When Wangjam found him with a 35-yard pass, Hai was goalside but a gap had opened between Vietnam’s centre-backs which Choudhary exploited before leaving Filip stranded in the 53rd minute.
Roshan Naorem’s cut-back after another clever ball from Fernandes had Vietnam’s defence scrambling to clear their lines and soon after the hour mark, Chhangte nearly found Choudhary with a chip over the backline.
The flurry of chances didn’t look possible before half-time. With two players attacking the central defensive pairing of Rahul Bheke and Anwar Ali, wide men Nguyen Phong Hong Duy and To Van Vu stretching and switching play and Nguyen Van Toan finding space in a crowded front third like the regular traveller on a Mumbai local, Vietnam were sharp and smart in attack.
But they were let down by their finishing. Proof of that came early, in the 11th minute, when Bheke needlessly barrelled into Bui Vi Hao and conceded a penalty. Hai’s stop-start routine was so soft that Gurpreet Singh Sandhu could go down and collect. Sandhu couldn’t do much in the 38th when following a free-kick from the left, the ball pinged inside the area before Hao let fly. Sandhu got a leg out and parried, only for the ball to curl back into his goal.
As time ran out, Vietnam pushed hard but were again not clinical. When they thought they were, Anwar Ali cleared off the line. Sandhu too chipped in with a reflex save, kept out Nguyen Quang Hai’s shot and was at the right place to pouch Naorem’s shinned clearance in between. Equally, Liston Colaco could have won it in stoppage time. It is the first time this year that India have bagged a point against a team ranked higher (Vietnam are 116, India 126).
