Akhil Rawat

AIFF Media Team

NAM ĐỊNH, VIETNAM: The Senior Indian Men’s National Team, left for India late on Saturday, October 12, 2024, a few hours after their one-off friendly tie against hosts Vietnam that turned out to be an even battle with the visitors dishing out a stirring display in the second session.

A 1-1 draw against their hosts, placed 116 in the FIFA rankings, orchestrated by comeback man Farukh Choudhary, who produced a delectable chip over Vietnam goalkeeper Nguyen Filip’s head, augured well for the Blue Tigers.

Farukh, returning to international football after three years, said after the match, “Personally, I feel great. I’ve not been a part of the national team for a long time, but this is where I wanted to be. I worked hard at my clubs and I knew in my heart that I deserved to be here.

Despite scoring the equaliser in the 53rd minute, the 27-year-old prioritised winning an away match for the Blue Tigers.

“I’m glad that I could make a difference for the team, but I feel that we could have scored another,” he said. “But everyone played well together as a team. Gurpreet and Anwar also had exceptional games in defence, which is why we got this score.”

The last time Farukh turned out for India, he had clocked an assist against Nepal, in October 2021, in a 1-0 victory in Male. But an unfortunate knee injury meant that Farukh had to start from square one on his way back to the national team.

India head coach Manolo Márquez was notably pleased with the striker’s performance. "I think he had a good game. He did what we expected him to do. It wasn't pre-planned to take him off at 70 minutes, but his contribution was important," said Márquez.

In what was a game of two halves, India heaved an almighty effort for most parts of the second half, and perhaps were a bit disappointed that they could not find the winning goal. However, the head coach remains positive about his side’s display.

“In the first half, it was practically all Vietnam. Then we discussed at half time how we have enough quality to play, and finally, we started executing our plans in the second,” said Márquez. “Sure, Vietnam could have scored in the last minutes when we were tired, but we could have scored too with our last chance. But overall, I am satisfied with this. It was a friendly game, after all.”

While every ball was contested in a fierce manner during the 90 minutes, it was after the final whistle, that one could see the true power of the game. As both teams came together for the post-match handshake, the home supporters at the Thiên Trường Stadium got up to applaud the Blue Tigers’ performance.

Such was the mutual respect between the teams that both India and Vietnam dined together at the team hotel after the match before the visitors took off on their return journey.