India beat Turkmenistan
for second win

India registered their second successive victory in the Asian Games football tournament, beating Turkmenistan 3-1 in a crucial Group C league match in Yangsan on Monday.

Trailing by a goal at the breather, the Indians staged a superb rally in the second session and scored thrice to emerge deserving winners.

Vladimir Bariamov put Turkmenistan ahead in the 22nd minute, but two goals in a spell of three minutes in the second session saw India forge ahead.

Skipper Baichung Bhutia drew India abreast in the 54th minute while Abhishek Yadav made it 2-1 in two minutes later.

Bhutia scored again in the 78th minute to put the issue beyond doubt.

India, who had beaten Bangladesh 3-0 in their opening match, have six points from two matches.

It was captain Baichung Bhutia who came to the rescue of the Indians yet again in a fast-paced encounter. He fired in two goals, which took his tournament tally to four.

Turkmenistan are out of the reckoning now, having lost both their league matches so far. In their first match they had lost to favourites China.

Desperate to win the match to stay in contention for a last eight berth, the Indians only had themselves to blame for conceding the first goal as they appeared a little tentative in the early stages of the match, allowing their rivals too much room in the striking zone.

Taking the field with the tag of underdogs, Turkmenistan left the Indians stunned when the hard-working Bariamov brilliantly headed home a corner kick in the 22nd minute, giving no chance at all to Indian custodian Rajat Ghosh Dasdidar, who otherwise had a good day under the bar.

Thereafter, the Indians were a pale shadow of themselves as Turkmenistan enjoyed territorial advanatage for most part of the 45 minutes.

But the complexion of the game changed in a span of just two minutes in the second half which saw the Indians not only get the equaliser through Bhutia but also take the lead with Yadav finding the target.

The equaliser in the 54the minute was a brilliant effort from Bhutia, who always looked dangerous despite being tightly marked, as he ran in and booted the ball following a goalmouth melee after the Turkemistan custodian failed to collect the ball cleanly.

Even before the celebrations had died down, the talented Abhishek, who excelled in the recent LG Cup, put India in the lead just two minutes later as he placed the ball into the goal from close range. The rival custodian charged out to foil the move but a cool Abhishek made no mistake with his placement.

Bhutia then clinched the issue by scoring the third goal 11 minutes before the long whistle after displaying his dribbling skills to good effect.

The captain dribbled past a rival defender and slotted in from inside the box much to the delight of his teammates.

The Indians could have won by a bigger margin had the forwards not squandered a couple of gilt edged chances that came their way, particularly in the action-packed second session.

With two successive victories in the championship, the Indians have kept themselves in the reckoning for a quarter- final berth in the 24-team event.

The top teams from each of the six groups will qualify to the quarter-finals while the two best second-placed teams also make it to the last eight stage.

India play their last league match against China on Thursday.