Buriram: India defeated Thailand 1-0 in the King’s Cup on Saturday at Chang Arena in Buriram in Thailand.
This win is the Indian’s new coach Igor Stimac’s first win since his appointment. As a result of this win, the Blue Tigers finished third in the 2019 King’s Cup. Thailand failed to avenge their 4-1 defeat from the Asian Cup and now have lost both games against India in 2019.
The match got off to scratchy start from both the sides. Both the teams were looking to make the first move both defence of both India and Thailand was up to the mark.
Finally, the deadlock was broken by India as Anirudh Thapa scored for the Blue Tigers in the 17th minute.
In the 22nd minute, Teerasil Dangda scored for Thailand but the goal was disallowed by the match officials.
Teerasil scored but the linesman raised the flag for offside.
At the end of the half time, India was able to maintain a 1-0 lead over Thailand.
As the action after first-half resumed, Thailand was seen looking for attacking moves to get the equaliser.
India’s midfield intensity dropped off a bit in the second half. Raynier Fernandes and Amarjit Singh remained silent as Thailand played around with the ball.
Thailand was not able to convert their chances into goals in the second half, even though India kept on making lapses with the ball.
The Blue Tigers were seen doing time-wasting as Adil Khan took an eternity to get going as the crowd jeered him.
Four extra minutes were added on after the completion of 90 minutes, but Thailand failed to score, giving India a 1-0 win.
India had lost their opening match of the King’s Cup 3-1 against Curacao. In that match, Sunil Chhetri became the highest capped international player (109 matches) for the Blue Tigers.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]