Coach Constantine lauds
Indian footballers' showing
Hardev Singh in Wolverhampton
India returned home on Tuesday morning with their heads held high after holding Jamaica to a goalless draw in the second and final match of the 'Jam’In Series' at the Molineux ground in Wolverhampton.
India's English coach Stephen Constantine was so pleased with the result that he termed it "bigger than the LG Cup victory" in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, last month.
The Indians, who had lost 0-3 to the Jamaicans in a rather one-sided contest in the first match of the English tour last Thursday, visited England as part of their preparations for the Busan Asian Games at the end of September.
"Yes, we did not attack enough," said Constantine, reflecting on the match. "But if you look at the statistics, the Jamaicans did not get much chances. I'm sure it is a big blow to their coach Carl Brown."
India rung in a few changes, the most important one being that of goalkeeper Rajat Ghosh Dastidar, who came in for Sangram Mukherjee, who could take a fair share of the blame for the earlier loss. And it was Ghosh's confidence under the bar which rubbed on to his teammates as they made mockery of the tremendous structural and skilful differences between the two sides.
Captain Bhaichung Bhutia played his role well by taking on the might of the two defenders, Claude Davis and Ian Goodison. This also inspired his teammates, who did not commit the same blunders of the previous match, when they played deep and allowed the Jamaicans enough room to move the ball in midfield.
Central defender Deepak Mondal was truly outstanding and was chosen the Indian player of the series. Unfortunately, he was not present on the ground to receive the award as he had to be rushed to hospital for a suspected cheek bone fracture sustained during the match. He was kicked by a Jamaican player after making a superb aerial tackle. The x-ray showed no damage to the jaw, though there was a small swelling on his face.
Mondal received good support from the two stoppers -- Mahesh Gawali and Debjit Ghosh, who came into the match in place of Manitombi Singh. With Mondal's withdrawal, Debjit took up his role and oozed confidence in the closing stages, when the Jamaicans tried desperately for a winning goal that would keep their pride intact. It never came.
The Indians had only one shot at goal. However, Bijen Singh’s curler on the turn was fairly innocuous to cause alarm in the Jamaican defence. There was another chance in the first half, when Tomba Singh, who bravely took the field despite a cut on his right shin and being not very comfortable in a new pair of shoes, took a cracker after some spadework by Sameer Naik. The ball was, however, deflected for a corner-kick.
There was a better crowd, about 4,000, as compared with the Watford game. But this did not please the organisers, Sapphire Enterprises, who were expecting something in the region of 10 to 12,000.
Meanwhile, coach Constantine warned of high expectations at the Asian Games.
"It would be foolish to equate this performance with anything. We came with a young team to give them international experience and that purpose has been achieved. Barring Alex Ambrose and third goalkeeper Nasim Akhtar everybody got to play too."
The team is expected to play Uzbekistan in three internationals over the next fortnight.
The teams:
India: Rajat Ghosh Dastidar; Debjit Ghosh, Deepak Mondal (Manitombi Singh 46th minute),
Mahesh Gawli, Samir Naik (Satish Kumar Bharti 79th minute); Jo Paul Ancheri, Shanmugam
Venkatesh, Renedy Singh, Tomba Singh (Bijen Singh 62nd minute); Baichung Bhutia
(captain), Abhishek Yadav (Praveen Kumar 74th minute).
Jamaica: Donovan Ricketts, Claude Davis, Marco McDonald, Ian Goodison, Fabian Dawkins (Damion Williams - 83rd minute), Christopher Jackson, Kirk Hendricks (Jonathan Williams - 72nd minute), Omar Daley, Fabian Taylor, Kevin Wilson (Roland Dean - 60th minute), Jermaine Anderson (Roen Nelson 32nd minute)
Referee: Mike Riley
Earlier report
Indian footballers hold Jamaica
