India end Portugal tour with a draw

The Indian national team on Saturday played out a 1-1 draw with Portuguese third division outfit Odivelas Futebol Clube in the last practice match of their Portugal tour in Lisbon.

After a barren first half, the Portuguese side drew first blood in the 60th minute, but India retaliated strongly with defender N S Manju restoring parity two minutes later.

Manju made no mistake off a Syed Rahim Nabi pass from the left flank in the match played at the Odivelas ground.

India started off with Subhasish Roy Choudhury in the goal with Manju, Mahesh Gawli, Govin Singh and N Mohanraj in defence.

Jagpreet Singh got the start as right winger while Baldeep Singh and Mehrajuddin Wadoo once again paired up in the central midfield with Rahim Nabi operating from the left flank. Baljit Sahni and Sushil Kumar Singh were the two strikers.

India ended their two-month tour of Portugal, which is part of their preparation for next year's Asian Cup in Qatar, after playing 10 practice matches, all of them against third or second division sides.

India won six times, drew and lost twice each.