India in a must win situation against Maldives tomorrow

Doha, Dec 2 (UNI) Having squandered a golden chance to win the match against Hong Kong in their opening tie, India finds themselves in a must win situation against Maldives in their second Group 'D' league match here tomorrow.

India could not hold on to an 89th minute lead against Hong Kong while Maldives gave a run for their money to defending champions Iran before losing 1-3 in their opener.

Maldives is not going to be an easy customer as they had beaten India in SAF Games and now after their good showing against Iran their morale is high.

Even if India draws the match they will be out of reckoning as the tournament has been divided into six pools with top team from each pool making it to the knock out stage and rest two slots will be filled by best two runners up.

India's predicament is of their own making. They almost had three points in their pocket against Hong Kong but their defence committed a grave error in the injury time and paid the price.

The Indians will not only have to win but also do so with a big margin and they will have to adopt an aggressive style because they have nothing to lose.

Coach Bob Houghton made some tactical mistakes in the opener.

After 70 minutes of play, he withdrew attacking midfielder Steven Dias and replaced him with defensive Debabrata Roy and that effected the forward line.

Much will also depend on how skipper Baichung Bhutia will shape up. He will be closely marked but still expected to go past the rival defenders provided he gets good support from other players.

Manjit Singh, Climax Lawrance and Gourmangi Singh played well against Hong Kong but will need sharpening of their shooting skills.

In the opening tie, there were far too many aimless running around and shooting. The Indian attack needs to be focused and incisive.

N P Pradeep, Habib-Ur-Rehman Mondal and Steven Dias kept the mid field going and had the edge over their rivals in the first half but tomorrow they need to put in more than what they did against Hong Kong.

They not only have to score but also to defend well. Custodian Sandip Nandy's momentary lapse of concentration cost India but one hopes it will not be repeated again.

In all, a tense match is ahead of India. A win will assure a ray of hope of making it to the knock out stage and a draw or a lose will bury their ambitions.

UNI HSB PDS KP2010