Monday, June 16, 2008

India scrape past Maldives in SAFF Cup

Holders India defeated hosts Maldives 1-0 in an unconvincing fashion in their last Group A match in the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup here. In a late match Saturday night, India decided to rest some of their key players including skipper Bhaichung Bhutia and N.P. Pradeep as they have already qualified for the semi-finals. And a neat header from Gourimangi Singh in the 14th minute helped India maintain their winning run.

Maldives gave a tough competition to the defending champions, who were down to 10-men in the 68th minute when defender Sameer Naik was red carded.

In the last 10 minutes, the hosts sent down a barrage of attacks but some brilliant saves by Subrata Paul helped India scrape past with a lucky win.

Source: www.thaindian.com

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