The Indian national football team and NEUFC played out a 1-1 draw in a friendly practice match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Sarusajai in Guwahati on Wednesday.
While Sunil Chhetri, the captain of India’s national football team, scored the goal for his team, Ghanian striker Asamoah Gyan of NorthEast United Football Club (NEUFC) found the net to end the India versus NEUFC friendly match 1-1.
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The first goal of the match came from Sunil Chhetri at 34th minute of the game.
Chhetri is known for his brilliant career as he has scored the 2nd highest number of goals in international matches among active players after Cristiano Ronaldo.
He is also the all-time top goalscorer for the Indian national team, with 72 goals in 112 appearances.
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But just before the half-time, NEUFC striker and former Ghana football team captain, who led his home team to the quarter-final in 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Asamoah Gyan found the equalizer for the host club.
HT ‘ 1-1
It’s all square at the break as @ASAMOAH_GYAN3 equalizes at the stroke of half-time after Chhetri put India ahead earlier! ??#StrongerAsOne #8States1United pic.twitter.com/FfLHB9waK7
— NorthEast United FC (@NEUtdFC) October 9, 2019
Just ahead of the game, during an interview with Outlook India, Gyan made it clear that he would score for his team as that is his “job”.
“As a striker, I need to score and that is my job. If I have a bad season, it doesn’t mean that I am a bad player. Obviously, I am here to help the team reach the highest level and score plenty of goals,” Gyan said in the interview.
Also read: Ghana’s football legend Gyan ready to score for NEUFC
Gyan kept his word and was able to draw the attention of football lovers ahead of this season’s Indian Super League, which will begin on October 20.
On October 21, NEUFC will play their first match of the season against Bengaluru.
At the break of Wednesday’s friendly match, the scoreline was 1-1.
Also read: Gyan led Ghana in 2010 FIFA World Cup, now joins NEUFC
The match was organized to help the Indian team (Blue Tigers) prepare for their upcoming World Cup Qualifier match against Bangladesh.
NEUFC, in turn, also wanted to get a good knock ahead of their Indian Super League 2019-20 campaign.
Also read: Indian football team and NEUFC to play friendly match in Guwahati on Oct 9
According to a match report, in the second half of the game, Indian national team head coach Igor Stimac completely changed the playing eleven.
Subhashish Bose, near the 70th minute, found the net with a header but the linesman had his flag up and in the end the match ultimately ended in a 1-1 draw.
FT: It ends as it started. No winner tonight as @NEUtdFC earn a draw against #BlueTigers ?
IND 1?? – 1?? NEUFC#BackTheBlue ? #IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/JPOuynxu07
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) October 9, 2019
The game was open for the spectators and thousands of local fans gathered in the ground to have a glimpse of the action of the players of NEUFC and the national football team.
According to the report, this was for the first time that the national football team of India took on an Indian football club in a friendly match since they played Bengaluru FC in 2013.
Igor Stimac, who joined the team as the head coach five months back, has already organized three friendly matches for the national team so that the team can get prepared for the competitive matches.
The national team will continue their preparations in Kolkata before they take on Bangladesh in a FIFA World Cup / Asian Cup qualifier clash on October 15.