Kolkata: Between hope and heartbreak, a point in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and none, stood three second half stoppage time minutes. That is how long India needed to hold on against Vietnam in Perth on Wednesday.
The gap of 30 places in the FIFA rankings between the teams had been bridged by Sanfida Nongrum, and for 42 minutes thereafter, India held on against a team that played in the last World Cup.
Vietnam’s winning goal came in the 94th minute. The 1-2 defeat will hurt, maybe even haunt them through the matches against Japan and Chinese Taipei. But once the adrenaline wears off, once they relook at the fight they put up at the HBF Park, India will do well to take the positives after having qualified for the continental championship first time on merit.
Nongrum, the 20-year-old Garhwal FC captain, was brought on by head coach Amelia Valverde at half-time for the experienced Dangmei Grace. Staying on-side, Meghalaya’s first international woman footballer met Pyari Xaxa’s through ball and beat Vietnam goalkeeper Tran Thi Kim Thanh in the 52nd minute with a left-foot lob as audacious as it was extraordinary.
And just like that, a team that had lost seven of their last nine matches at this level were transformed. Credit should also go to Valverde for her substitutions, among them Nongrum and Rimpa Haldar at half-time. And for changing the formation thrice to help India grow in the game that started with them looking overawed.
Valverde first switched forwards, getting Manisha Kalyan, who used her experience of playing in Europe and now Peru, into a more central position. Then, she got Nongrum to join Kalyan as India switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 – the extra player in front preventing Vietnam’s central defenders from pushing up as easily as they had in the first half.
Finally, as India looked to hold on, Valverde kept only Kalyan in front and shifted to 4-5-1. India also shifted from a high line, that had caught Vietnam off-side four times before half-time, to a middle block and it so nearly worked.
Had it not been for the heroics of goalkeeper Panthoi Chanu Elangbam, Vietnam would have run away with the tie. Nguyen Thuy had rattled the horizontal in the 14th minute but between the posts, Elangbam, 30, was brave, leaving her line to deny a Vietnam player before stopping Nguyen Nha from close range.
The East Bengal goalie though couldn’t do much when Ngan Van Su opened her shoulders and fired into the far corner in the 30th minute after a slick three-pass move.
India survived a goal disallowed for off-side by VAR and were again helped out by technology on a penalty call. But once they levelled, India put Vietnam under pressure. At the hour mark, both teams had five shots with India having three on target to Vietnam’s two.
Kalyan fired a strong free-kick that bobbed out of Thanh’s hand but she collected on the second attempt. Using her size and ability to hold the ball under pressure, Kalyan also found Soumya Guguloth with an outstep-of-the-boot pass only for the wide player to get a heavy touch. That was India’s only chance in the first half after Sangita Basfore fired a hopeful long-ranger. Nongrum had a header on target in the second when the wide players were tracking back.
From being a livewire in the first half, Thuy was kept quiet in the second.
Vietnam came on strongly in the final quarter but Elangbam denied Su who then came close to scoring again.
It took a long ball behind the defence, of the kind India had quelled for long, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, that ended hopes of escaping with a point.
Vu Thi Hoa put the ball into the box and after Nha had taken away a defender, Su struck from close.
