FIFA friendly: Thapa’s goal bring cheer for India amid a Celeste masterclass

After a redeeming performance against Panama and spirited show against Brazil playing in second gear for most of their match, the world of difference between the top flight football nations and 138th ranked India caught up with them against Uruguay in the third and final FIFA friendly on Tuesday.

 A 6-1 scoreline in favour of the South Americans on a rain-soaked evening at the Salt Lake Stadium can’t really be called an anti-climax - rather it was expected. The yawning gap between Diego Forlan’s bunch of Celeste, comprising of some of the movers and shakers of European club football (despite the absence of Valverde) and the Blue Tigers were impossible to breach and it would have been unrealistic to expect India to come out unscatched.

 It’s however to the credit to the home team that they certainly had their moments in the match, especially with the pocket-sized Anirudh Thapa scoring an equaliser in the 22^nd minute after Uruguay had forged ahead via a penalty early on. Ryan Williams, who has had an impressive run in all three matches, won the ball in midfield, skipped past Emiliano Martínez and drove into space before shooting. Uruguayan goalkeeper Cardozo spilled the effort and Thapa reacted sharply - keeping his composure to finish the rebound.

The 30,000-odd crowd erupted as the hosts were charged up but the momentum was interrupted in the 27th minute. A hydration break became a stoppage of around half an hour as the game was stopped because of lightning and inclement weather. Uruguay restored their lead almost immediately after the restart when Mouriño picked out Nahitan Nández in space on the right - whose his low cross reached Araújo and the Liverpool man finished from close range in the 29th minute.

 They started looking more organised in the second half as they began a masterclass with their short, crisp passing and positional play – toying with the Indian defence as the later tried hard to maintain their shape. Apart from Ronald Arauzo who scored a brace, the other goalgetters for them were Darwin Nunez from the spot, Rodrigo Zalazar, Juan Manuel Sanabria and Rodrigo Aguirre.

 The day after, there would be some tough questions asked about the logic behind throwing the Indian team under the bus against such opponents at the expense of pulling out from ASEAN Cup – where they received an invitation from FIFA. Despite not disgracing themselves, record books will show will still show that India had conceded 11 goals from three matches and scored two.

 Coach Khalid Jamil stuck to his refrain after the game: ‘’We made many mistakes, there is no point in blaming anyone in particular. We need to improve as we will be playing New Zealand next (in the November window) and they are a tough team as well.’’

 For Uruguay’s new head coach Diego Forlan, the rebuilding process has just begun and he would be reasonably happy to return with one loss (3-1 to Japan) and two big wins (4-1 against South Korea; 6-1 vs India) from their first exposure trip after the World Cup.