Indian erased a goal deficit to hold Malaysia 1-1 in the FIFA International Friendly match at the Gachibowli Stadium in Hyderabad on Monday (November 18, 2024). Malaysia went ahead in the 19th minute through Paulo Josue before Rahul Bheke nodded home the equalizer from a corner in the 39th minute.
India suffered initially in the first half owing to a Gurpreet Singh Sandhu howler that put the host on the back foot early. It was unlikely of the country’s first-choice goalkeeper to make the amateurish mistake as he charged out of the box trying to reach a long ball but completely misjudged the flight to see the ball bouncing ahead of him and reaching the Malaysian forward Paulo Josue, who received the gift well and placed it into an open net.
Looking to assert itself as the host, India kept a high line but failed to make effective penetrations in the Malaysia box.
Head coach Manolo Marquez benched his regulars like Manvir Singh or Liston Colaco and preferred to try the new combination of Farukh Chaudhary and Irfan Yadwad, who made his national team debut, in the attack. The two showed adequate energy upfront but failed to find the right touch that would convert the Indian attacks into goals.
The search for a quality striker who could replace Sunil Chhetri in the Indian attack thus continued for Marquez.
India found the equalizer through a set-piece situation minutes before the break minute when Rahul Bheke, moving up from his position as the right back, nodded home a nicely swerved corner from Brandon Fernandez. This came as a big relief for the host, which kept struggling to find the right openings from open play.
The return of seasoned centre-back Sandesh Jhingan from a prolonged injury layoff gave stability to the Indian performance, which showed a lot of improvement compared to its previous three outings.
India survived some late onslaughts from Malaysia and was lucky not to concede a late goal as the Malaysian substitute saw his injury-time header coming off the upright.
Marquez exhausted his quota of substitutes in the last 20 minutes of action, but that came to no avail as India continued to remain winless in the year.