The Mumbai crowd quenched its thirst for the beautiful game on Saturday when it hosted an international game after 61 years. And India's convincing 4-1 win over a higher-ranked Puerto Rico served as the icing on the cake for the already charged up fans.
Riding on goals apiece from Narayan Das, Sunil Chhettri, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Jackichand Singh, the men in blue romped home with much ease riding on their authoritative display on the lush green field of the Shahaji Raje Kreeda Sankul, Andheri, under lights on Saturday.
Enthusiastic football fanatics continued to pour in good numbers few minutes even after the beginning of the game to watch their team play. The crowd in chorus kept singing the patriotic song 'Baar Baar Haan' from Aamir Khan movie's Lagaan and 'Vande Matram' to keep the morale high. Even a single decision against India from the referee attracted boos from the stands.
As promised during the build-up, the 114-ranked side Puerto Rico started on a high, showing some beautiful moves and dribbles making the Indians play to their tunes with short passes.
In its attempt to create a goal-scoring chance, Puerto Rico went all out and in the process India medio Jackichand Singh brought defender Elliot Velez down resulting in a free kick. Rico mid-fielder Emmanuel Sanchez put the ball past India captain and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, seventh minute into the play.
Despite having the upper hand, Rico fizzled out, may be due to jet lag, as India bounced back 10 minutes later to draw equal. Sunil Chhetri's free kick from outside the box hit the vertical bar, but an alert Narayan Das did not waste this chance and smashed into the far corner of the post, leaving custodian Johny Santana a mere spectator.
Rico defender Emmanuel D'A ndrea's attempt to block Chhetri resulted in another free kick to the hosts in the 24th minute. And this time the senior pro Chhetri wasn't in the mood to lose this chance. He rolled the ball past beautifully to leave the Rico goalkeeper stunned, taking India up by 2-0.
India goalkeeper Sandhu, too, joined the party with some acrobatic saves that only downed Rico's hopes.
With confidence already high after back-to-back goals, India pumped in one more. Not to be left behind, forward Lalpekhlua's beautiful header in the 34th minute saw them triple the margin. Pritam Kotal's fine cross from deep to Chhetri that saw him head one to Lalpekhlua who did not find it difficult to put it across into the net with a deft touch from his head.
Changing of ends did not change the fortunes of Rico. India pounced on another opportunity but this time it was mid-fielder Jackichand Singh who put his name on the scoresheet.
A throw-in in the 57th minute to Lalpekhlua who crossed into the box, but Eugeneson Lyngdoh's mishit header saw Singh grab the chance and smashed the ball in to make it 4-1
The last goal was the final nail in the coffin as Rico could not bounce back from there and any of the opportunities would either go over the bar or blocked by 'keeper Sandhu.
The next 33 minutes seemed just a formality for coach Stephen Constantine's men, ranked 152nd celebrated a glorious win by taking a lap of the ground.
Stopwatch: India 4 (Narayan Das 17, Sunil Chhetri 24, Jeje Lalpekhlua 34, Jackichand Singh 57) beat Puerto Rico 1 (Emmanuel Sanchez 7)
DID YOU KNOW?
This was the Indian team's fourth straight victory after the 1-2 loss to Turkmenistan in the World Cup qualifier in Kochi earlier this year. They had beaten Laos 6-1 and 1-0 in the Asia Cup qualifiers in June and then defeated Bhutan 3-0 last month in another international friendly.
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