India striker Sunil Chhetri in action against Vietnam at the Thong Nhat Stadium in Ho Chi Minh City. Image credit: Twitter/@IndianFootball
India were outplayed by Vietnam in their second fixture of the Hung Thinh football friendly tournament in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.
Phan Van Duc opened the account for the hosts in the 10th minute in the only strike in the first half. Nguyen Van Toan then doubled Vietnam’s lead four minutes into the second half to put further pressure on the Indians.
Nguyen Van Quyet’s 71sh minute strike then put the result beyond doubt as Igor Stimac’s Blue Tigers were served a harsh reality check at the Thong Nhat Stadium in the Vietnamese capital.
The defeat came after India held Singapore to a 1-1 draw in their opening game of the tournament on Saturday.
There were a few bright spots in an otherwise dull Indian performance on Tuesday, such as goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stretching to the max to keep out a long ranger from hitting the net.
Or Ashique Kuruniyan coming narrowly close to an equaliser in the first half after a spirited charge, going for a left-footed strike from inside the box that went just wide of the goal post.
The Blue Tigers however, appeared a lot more switched off in the second half, something that didn’t escape the attention of fans and experts, who vented their frustration on microblogging website Twitter.
We take a look at some of the reactions coming in to India’s latest defeat:
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