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Indian Football Team effectively sealed the match against Mongolia within the first fifteen minutes and started their campaign in the Intercontinental Cup on a high note at the Kalinga Stadium. Sahal Abdul Samad opened the scoring in the second minute of the game and then Lallianzuala Chhangte doubled up the lead in the 14 minutes of the game. India dominated the game completely and got away with deserved 3-point.
Intercontinental Cup 2023: India vs Mongolia - What happened in the match?
India men's football team return to action at the Intercontinental Cup in their preparations for the AFC Asia Cup later in the year. Sahal Abdul Samad scored on the rebound after Anirudh Thapa's dangerous ground cross reached to Sahal, who took two touches to calmly slot the ball in. India got an early lead just a couple of minutes into the game. Mongolia tried to build up from the back and kept calmness in the opposition box but the Indian defense was pumped up after the goal.
Lalinzuala Chhangte taps in a loose ball from close range following a corner. India doubled the lead by 2-0 by only 15th minutes in. The Mongolian goalkeeper made his best effort to make a safe there but the rest of his colleagues were not up to the task as the Indians were running away with the game.
India defeated Mongolia in opening match of intercontinental cup at kalinga stadium.#HeroIntercontinentalCup #indiafootball #kbfc #KeralaBlasters #kolkatafootball #mohunbagan #football #Odisha #goafootball #fcgoa #UEFAChampionsLeague pic.twitter.com/9uyt8JTfCf
ā Worldofindianfootballl (@WOIF_FOOTBALL) June 9, 2023
Chhangte had a great chance to double his goal tally as Abdul Sahal Samad played him through to the goal but the Mongolian goalkeeper was off his line at the right time to narrow the angle and blocked Chhangte's effort on target. There were a couple of chances for Mongolia too but they couldn't cope with the chances and missed away from scoring any. The match ended 2-0 and India comfortably got away with 3 points from their opening game of the Intercontinental Cup 2023.