The Indian U19 national team kicked-off their AFC U19 Championship qualifying campaign with a 3-1 win against Turkmenistan.
Midfielder Brandon Fernandes opened the score sheet and paved the way for the Indian youngsters to register a confidence boosting win against the Central Asians.
Turkmenistan’s Gurt Podarov brought down Fernandes in the box and gave away a penalty to the Indian team. Fernandes took the resulting penalty in the 39th minute.
Miradov levelled the score in the 56th minute, but Malswamfela put India once again in-front just four minutes later.
Prabir Das added a third goal to the Indian tally to make it 3-1 in the 80th minute.
Colm Toal’s team will take on Iran in their next match on Wednesday.
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AFC U19 Championship – Qualifier – Group C
India U19 3-1 Turkmenistan U19
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VENUE
Takhti Stadium, Tehran
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GOALS
1-0 Brandon Fernandes (39′, pen)
1-1 Miradov (56′)
2-1 Malswamfela (60′)
3-1 Prabir Das (82′)
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LINE-UP
India U19
Ravi Kumar; Narayan Das, Bikramjit Singh, Sonu, Pritam Kotal; Brandon Fernandes (67′ Johnychand Singh), Anto Xavier, Sehnaj Singh, Pronay Halder (69′ Prabir Das); Holicharan Narzary, Malswamfela [C] (85′ Sunny)
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BOOKINGS
Yellow Cards
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Red Card
Gurt Podarov (38′, Turkmenistan)
Anto Xavier (86′, India)