New Delhi :
India thrashed Turkmenistan 3-0 in their last Group D match of the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers on Wednesday. The Indian team finished their campaign on a high after being drubbed 5-0 by Saudi Arabia and drawing the second match against Yemen.
Skipper Amarjit Singh opened the scoring in the 74th minute, Abhishek Halder doubled the lead in the 80th and Edmund completed the tally with a strike in the 92nd as India dominated the proceedings for the better part of the game.
The crowd that gathered at the Prince Mohammad bin Fahad Stadium chanted ‘India! India!’ as Luis Norton de Matos’ players registered their first win of the tournament.
Dominating possession and making frequent forays into the rival citadel, the Indians created innumerable scoring chances in the first half but were somehow not able to break the deadlock.
A happy bunch of India U19s after a 3-0 win over Turkmenistan #AsianDream #BackTheBlue #TKMvIND pic.twitter.com/wf4BFZKN86
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) November 8, 2017
India’s domination continued in the second half and even as Turkmenistan rarely threatened the opposition citadel, lady luck finally smiled on Matos’ team when Amarjit found the back of the net.
An energetic India U-19 put three past Turkmenistan as they ended their AFC U-19 Championship qualifying campaign... https://t.co/DQ9SkiPl6s
— Indian Football Team (@BlueTigersIndia) November 8, 2017
There was more to come from India as Halder doubled the lead by tapping the ball into an empty six minutes later, and Edmund completed the rout in the injury time.
FT: TKM 🇹🇲 0 - 3 IND 🇮🇳
— AFC (@theafcdotcom) November 8, 2017
India end their #AFCU19 qualifiers Group D campaign with a thumping win against Turkmenistan! #StarsOfTomorrow pic.twitter.com/4XqkjEXVoO
India, thus, ended the Qualifiers with four points from three matches. They started with a drubbing at the hands of Saudi Arabia and drew Yemen in their second match.Â
With PTI inputs
