In the 74th minute, the home team eventually broke the deadlock courtesy of a goal from Colaco from outside the box.
'At the same time, this may encourage some youngsters in some parts of the country to pursue football.'
The Blues will look to bounce back and stay in the hunt for the first spot, though they now trail the top-placed Mohun Bagan Super Giant (36) by eight points (28), slightly undoing their impressive run in the earlier parts of the season.
A goal each half gave India a 2-0 victory over Nepal, and made Sunil Chhetri the country's all-time leading goal-scorer, in Tuesday's friendly at the Kanchenjunga stadium in Siliguri.
India enter round of 16 in men's football
Mountaineer Bachendri Pal was, on Friday, conferred with the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, while Gautam Gambhir, BajranG Punia and Sunil Chhetri, among others, received the Padma Shri.
Indian cricket's Test captain Virat Kohli has congratulated the national football team and lavished praise on skipper Sunil Chhetri for leading the side to a record seventh SAFF Cup triumph. India exacted sweet revenge of their last edition defeat as they beat defending champions Afghanistan 2-1 in the summit clash in a dominating display to lift the South Asian Football Federation Cup in Thiruvananthapuram last night.
Defending champions India held their nerves to beat Lebanon in the penalty shootout and set up a title clash against Kuwait.
Captain Sunil Chhetri rose to the occasion with his 87th international goal as India won the Intercontinental Cup after beating Lebanon 2-0 in the final.
India suffered one of its most embarrassing defeat in recent years despite Sunil Chhetri's 94th international goal in his 150th match.
Having endured a topsy-turvy start to their campaign before a fine turnaround, seven-time champions India start as title favourites when they take on first-time finalists Nepal in the summit clash of the SAFF Championships, in Male, on Saturday.
The Argentina captain's Kolkata schedule on December 13 will begin at 9am with a meet-and-greet event, followed by the unveiling of a 70-feet statue of him at the Lake Town Sribhumi on VIP Road.
Chhetri is the lone surviving member of the 2011 team who lost all three group games in Qatar but the 34-year-old is determined to make a mark in what is potentially his final appearance in the continent's biggest tournament next month.
In huge development in the I-League, India captain and striker Sunil Chhetri was snapped up by debutants JSW Sports on Friday.
Inter Kashi knock Bengaluru FC out of Kalinga Super Cup with penalty shoot-out win
India will face Pakistan in their opening outing at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday
Dimas Delgado found Harmanjot Khabra who routed the attack from the right and floated a perfect cross into the box. Chhetri leapt higher than Shubham Sarangi and headed home. The goal made him the first Indian player to record 50 goals contributions in the Hero ISL -- 42 goals and 8 assists.
In one of the most endearing messages for the India U-17 squad, senior team skipper Sunil Chhetri on Thursday sought "forgiveness for being jealous" of the likes of Amarjit Singh and Co, who are set to be part of India's first ever World Cup squad.
Vishal Kaith's twin saves in the tiebreaker helped defending champions Mohun Bagan make a splendid comeback from two goals down to edge star-studded Bengaluru FC 4-3 (2-2 after full-time) to reach the Durand Cup final for a record 30th time in Kolkata on Tuesday.
'From passing the ball in the right passages to the defence to amazing guarding of the goals by Sandhu throughout the tournament it has been a top notch performance from the entire squad.'
Star striker Sunil Chhetri finally found his goal-scoring touch and scored twice as Mumbai City FC swamped Delhi Dynamos 2-0 to notch up their maiden win in four games in the Indian Super League.
'It's about experience. My players were fit, in fact fitter than Oman, but they were more experienced.' Coach Stimac rues India's one-man attack after Oman agony
Don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves, we're still alive: Stimac
Gurpreet named India captain for World Cup qualifying match against Qatar
'This is the tournament we play for. We get to rub our shoulders against best in Asia which we don't get many times'
India a step closer to 2019 Asian Cup
'Every game is important, every win is important, especially clean sheets, so I am very happy. But I can tell you that I was not at all happy at half time. We played well in the first 10 minutes, and then we disappeared.'
MBSG have added the ISL trophy to their League Winners' Shield they had won earlier in the season for a ISL double.
India football captain Sunil Chhetri capped a superb display with a fine hat-trick to orchestrate Mumbai City FC's 5-1 rout of North East United FC in the Indian Super League at the D Y Patil Stadium.
This will be the second time India will face Kuwait in the tournament. They had played out a 1-1 draw in an acrimonious Group A match last week.
Both teams showed urgency to find the winner but were denied, with Malaysia coming close just before the final whistle.
Just prior to half-time the ball rolled outside the pitch and Pakistan defender Abdullah Iqbal was going to take the throw. But Stimac was seen walking up to him and knocking the ball out of his hand.
Stimac, whose contract was terminated on Monday, coached India for five years.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
It also showed that a side placed 102nd in the FIFA World Rankings can thwart a team placed 77 places above them. And India did keep the mighty Aussies out for 50 minutes before a fatal error saw the Blue Tigers punished after all the good work.
Bayern come from behind to beat gutsy Mainz 2-1 and widen gap.
Odisha FC delivered a magnificent performance to sweep aside Bengaluru FC 4-2 in their Indian Super League (ISL) match in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
Costa nodded home a Javier Hernandez corner at the far post to log home full points for BFC
Refusing to share her exact concerns, Mary Kom said she would rather discuss them in the meeting with Mandaviya and BFI top brass.
Former hockey captain P R Sreejesh was chosen for the Padma Bhushan, while Ravichandran Ashwin was among the Padma Shri winners.
