AGENCIES
HYDERABAD, OCTOBER 31: A last-minute goal by striker Innomov Islam guided Uzbekistan to win the soccer gold, sealing India’s title aspirations in the Afro-Asian Games and denying forward I M Vijayan a chance to retire on a winning note as the hosts lost 0-1 in a fast-paced final tonight.
Even as the match was moving towards extra-time, Innomov collected the ball from a melee and unleashed a 25-yard block-buster that swerved into the Indian net, beating goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee.
Earlier, Zimbabwe took the third spot, defeating Rwanda 7-5 in tie-breaker in the match between losing semifinalists.
The Indian players belied the expectations, especially in their midfield moves, and succumbed to a sprightly Uzbek team that consisted mainly of under-23 players.
The Indian frontliners were also to blame for the defeat as they muffed away quite a few rosy chances. While medio Renedy Singh shot out a Jatin Bisht pass from left off a Baichung Bhutia move in the 29th minute, veteran Vijayan, who scored in all the matches earlier in the games, failed to find the mark after he was nicely fed by a Renedy Singh pass around midway through the second half.
India, after their fine performances in the league stage were rated favourites, but the Uzbeks proved that unwise. Besides keeping all the Indian strikers under strict Vigil, they forced a number of opportunities with speedy moves and neat combination.
Surely they could have scored a couple of more goals had their forwards shown better marksmanship.
Zimbabwe beat Rwanda 7-5 via tiebreak to win the bronze medal. The two teams were locked 2-2 at the end of the regulation time and golden goal extra time.
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