The Indian national team failed to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup in the Maldives after a 0-1 loss against Myanmar in the final qualifier played at the Youth Training Centre, Yangon.

It took Team India a little while before they settled against the hosts in a match which would see India through to the AFC Challenge Cup with a win or a draw. Myanmar had the better start, but India found their way to the Myanmar box in the later stages of the first half. But none of the teams opened the scoresheet and the scoreline remained goalles at half-time.

Soe Min Oo scored the only goal of the match in front of 6,000 fans to hand Myanmar a direct spot in the AFC Challenge Cup finals scheduled to take place in the Maldives next year.

India can still hope to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup as one of the best runners-up, depending on the results in the other qualifiying groups.

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2014 AFC Challenge Cup | Qualifier | Group A
at Youth Training Centre, Yangon (Myanmar)

MYANMAR 1-0 INDIA

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GOALS
1-0 Soe Min Oo (75′)

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LINE-UPS

Myanmar
1 Thiha Si Thu [C]; 3 Zaw Min Htun, 12 Aung Hein Kyaw, 13 Yan Aung Win, 36 Thet Naing; 6 Yan Aung Kyaw, 7 Yar Zar Win Thein, 8 Kyi Lin, 14 David Htan (80′ 27 Naing Lin Oo), 29 Paing Soe (50′ 49 Soe Min Oo); 9 Yaza Win Thein (90’+3′ 38 Ye Zaw Htet Aung)

Unused Subs
18 Kyaw Zin Phyo, 25 Pyae Phyo Aung; 4 Zaw Zaw Oo, 15 Phyo Ko Ko Thein, 16 Thein Than Win, 22 Si Thu Aung, 26 Myo Zaw Oo, 34 Kaung Si Thu, 37 Soe Kyaw Kyaw

India
1 Subrata Pal; 2 Denzil Franco, 19 Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh, 3 Raju Eknath Gaikwad, 31 Gurjinder Kumar Singh; 10 Francis Fernandes (83′ 22 Syed Rahim Nabi), 6 Lenny Rodrigues (74′ 33 Izumi Arata), 7 Mehtab Hossain, 15 Clifford Miranda, 23 Jewel Raja Sheikh; 11 Sunil Chhetri [C]

Unused Subs
16 Karanjit Singh, 44 Sandip Nandy; 4 Nirmal Chettri, 9 Alwyn George, 12 Jeje Lalpekhlua, 18 Souvik Ghosh, 24 Robin Singh, 30 Lalkamal Bhowmick, 38 Rowilson Rodrigues, 39 C.K. Vineeth

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MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee
Mohammad Mousa Abu Loum (Jordan)

Assistant Referees
Abdulah Mutlaq A. Alshalwai (Saudi Arabia), Seo Moo Hee (Korea Republic)

Fourth Official
Ko Hyung Jin (Korea Republic)

Match Commissioner
David Dwight B. Penano (Philippines)

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BOOKINGS

Yellow Cards
19′ Gurjinder Kumar Singh (India)
62′ Denzil Franco (India)
69′ Gouramangi Moirangthem Singh (India)
79′ David Htan (Myanmar)

Yellow-Red Cards
none

Red Cards
none

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AIFF MATCH REPORT

The crowd was deafening. There were drums, there were bugles. But more than anything else, it was the passion for cheering for your own country. The vocal chords surpassed everything else, though at times, you may have missed your cotton buds. The decibel levels were too high, but none minded. It was all for football.

Add to that the cool breeze under the lights at a temperature of around 30 degrees, it was perhaps, the best atmosphere to play the game.

Backed on, hosts Myanmar scraped past India by a solitary goal in the last Group League match of Group A of the AFC Challenge Cup 2014 at the Yangon Training Centre. Substitute Soe Min Oo made the difference between the two teams in the 75thminute.

Courtesy the victory, Myanmar topped Group A with seven points and qualified for the final phase of the Tournament to be played in Maldives in 2014. India finished second on six points.

“We have ourselves to blame. We just couldn’t keep the ball and gave it away too often. It was a must-win match for Myanmar,” National Coach Wim Koevermans said after the match.

“But at the same time, we had three positive chances in the first-half and one in the second-half which hit the post. Against a team as Myanmar, you need to capitalise on them. If not, you will be punished. I congratulate Myanmar for the performance,” he added. Myanmar were also alert to have made a goalline save in the dying minutes.

You can never counter what Koevermans said. India did start on a positive note. In the first half, they played the tactical game preferring to wait at times and trying to exploit the gaps in the Myanmar midfield. There was a penchant for stretching it to the flanks and the ploy worked.

If you simply go by the number of chances created in the first half, the Indians had “three positive ones” each of them which could have yielded a goal.

The first one came in the 16th minute when Clifford Miranda’s powerful blaster from inside the box thundered against the boards instead of the next. The next one came in the 43rd minute — Clifford, well placed inside the box to take a cracker, tried to find Sunil Chhetri allowing the Myanmar defence to recover.

In the very next minute, Mehtab Hossain’s through set up Jewel Raja Shaikh on the right. Jewel entered the box with Sunil preferring to do the dummy. Much to the relief of the crowd, Jewel preferred to find Sunil rather than going himself and both the teams went into the resumption goalless.

These apart, there were series of corners earned in the first half along with a number of throw-ins around the Myanmar box, all of which were floated in by Raju Gaikwad. The closest India came was in the 35th minute when his throw venomously dipped and beat all even as Sunil Chhetri tried to flick it in.

Myanmar were quick in their counter-attacks. Gurjinder Kumar was yellow carded for tripping Kyi Lin from behind in the 17thminute. Lin was initiating a counter attack and had with a deft turn, got past Gurjinder.

Post resumption, Myanmar were off the blocks faster. The first positive chance came in the 51st minute but Subrata Paul, till then, not tested in the match kept at bay a Kyi Lin low shot. The nippy Lin interchanged all throughout and in the very next minute almost laid the platform for Myanmar to take the lead but Kaw Zayar Win failed to tap in Lin’s through from close. They were tense moments in the Indian camp and obviously, the decibel levels rose.

The Indians tried to regroup. Intercepting a counter-attack, Chhetri laid it for Jewel in the box but the latter instead tried to find Chhetri instead of pulling the trigger.

In between, Denzil Franco was yellow-carded for pushing David Htan on the far right and then, Gouramangi Singh was yellow carded for tripping substitute Soe Min Oo just outside the box. But Myanmar failed to capitalise.

Instead, Jewel almost put India in the lead. He latched on to the second ball off a Raju throw but his prompt right-footer hit the post and bounced back.

The goal came in the 75th minute. Myanmar, pressing hard, managed to float it in the box from the left and Soe Min scored from a melee.

In the 80th minute, Arata followed a Raju throw-in and tapped in from close but only for defender Zaw Min to make a goalline save. Myanmar managed to hold on till the end.

There was pin drop silence in the team bus on way back to the Team Hotel. But as Koevermans summed it up: “We have ourselves to blame.”