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Japan thrash India 6-0
India faced Japan on Wednesday in an Asian Football qualifier in Yokohama.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: February 25, 2007 10:38 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Yokohama:
India faced Japan on Wednesday in an Asian Football qualifier in Yokohama. The big question was not whether India would win or not, but how bad the margin of defeat would be. Eventually the scoreline of 6-0 looked bad, but India playing against the number one side in Asia and the 18th in the world at least played a commendable first half. Japanese firepower India and Japan are separated by 100 places in the FIFA world rankings. So clearly, the hosts have more firepower. However Japan found Indian's keeper Sandeep Nandy a hard nut to crack. The Mahindra United goalkeeper kept the Japanese forwards at bay time and time again. India's last two encounters against the Japanese in 2004 had seen them concede 11 goals, but somehow the Japanese seemed to have left their shooting boots in the locker room. It eventually took some sloppy defending from the Indians for the Japanese to take the lead. 1-0 at half time was an exceptionally good score for the Indians, but all of a sudden things changed. Japan took a 2-0 lead minutes after the re-start and the Indian defence looked totally lost against their more illustrious opponents. Missing stars The Japanese were missing their European based stars like Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura, but that did not stop them from a taking a 3-0 lead. Alex's corner beautifully glided into the corner and the defender on the line failed to keep the ball out. The floodgates had opened and it wasn't long before 3-0 became 4-0. Japan ended their 5-star performance with two late goals in the last 20 minutes, a perfect start to their qualifying campaign. The two-time time defending champions have not lost an Asian Cup qualifier for 18 years, but for India, it was back to the drawing board before Yemen visit India next Tuesday.Topics mentioned in this article
Football Bayern Munchen
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