The Indian U19 national team registered their first win at the Weifang Cup 2011 in an thrilling match against FC Adelaide. The Indian team rallied to beat the Australians 4-3 in their second match of the competition.
Adelaide took an early lead through Joey Stefan Mauk, who slotted it home from 20m to give his team the lead, while Jordan Kallios added a second from short distance.
The Indian juniors were paid off for their stiff resistance, when Malswamfela was brought down in the Australian box and got a penalty for the foul on him. Brandon Fernandes made no mistake from the spot and scored for the Indians.
But things didn’t look well a few moments later, when Jordan Kallios fired a a meek shot from 15m to deceive India’s keeper Kamaljit Singh and make it 3-1 at half-time in his teams’ favour.
Holicharan Narzary reduced the margin 28 minutes from time, before Prabir Das managed to level the score to the delight of India coach Colm Toal and his wards.
Rajinder Kumar scored the winner for the Indian team in the dying minutes of the game against a strong FC Adelaide, who featured five players of Australia’s U19 FIFA World Cup squad.
India will now face Sport Lisboa e Benfica in their last game on Wednesday. Sport Lisboa e Benfica beat hosts Shandong Luneng Taishan FC 2-1 in the second Group B match of the day.