Bahrain managed to grab a late winner against India in their international friendly, with a 2-1 scoreline at the end of the 90 minutes.
Only 14-15 players were available for selection for India head coach Igor Stimac. The player’s that participated in the ISL final were tested and a lot of youngsters were given a chance in the national team over the regular players.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu captains India in first friendly
The goalkeeper started out the game very well, and was able to save a penalty within the first ten minutes of the game to keep his side in the game. However, he was beaten twice throughout regulation time as Bahrain ultimately picked up the win.
Liston Colaco had to be replaced in the second half by ISL’s emerging player of the season, Naorem Roshan Singh. And he provided an instant impact for the team, coming off the bench.
Rahul Bheke scored a header to equalise in the second half, and things looked to be headed towards a draw. But, Mahdi Al-Humaidan was able to put his side back ahead. The Bahrain striker could have scored a hat-trick, but was only able to deliver the vital goal to give his country the win.
Despite the game being a friendly, Bahrain maintained their record of never losing a game to India. On the other hand, India have started out their brief international spell on the back foot. They will be taking on Belarus in another friendly on Sunday, 27 March.
