India vs Bahrain LIVE – Bahrain Beat India 2-1: Bahrain beat India 2-1 in an international friendly at the Al Muharraq Stadium in Bahrain, on Wednesday. The hosts had taken the lead through Mohamed Al Hardan (38′) before Rahul Bheke (59′) brought India back in the game but for a late strike by Mahdi Al-Humaidan (88′) that ended up as a winner for Bahrain. Follow all the Indian football updates only on InsideSport.IN
India take on Belarus in another friendly on Saturday, March 27.
Bahrain 2-1 India Highlights: Humaidan’s goal wins it for Bahrain; Bheke scores for India
Bahrain Beat India 2-1: With five players injured, seven were left stranded at home due to visa glitches. Four were not ready to start the game after being involved in the Indian Super League (ISL) final on Sunday.
India coach Igor Stimac was left with only 14 players, including two goalkeepers, to choose his starting 11.
He chose to hand international debuts to VP Suhair and Danish Farooq, and while all four at the back were regulars, the team appeared imba lanced, particularly in the middle .
Bahrain were the better side right from kickoff and carved several chances.
Mahdi Al-Humaidan’s early penalty was saved by goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, but the captain could do nothing to stop Mohamed Al-Hardan’s volley in the 37th minute.
India vs Bahrain LIVE: Follow Live Updates from the friendly clash
FULL TIME! That's the end of the first of the 2 Friendlies in Bahrain, and it's a narrow defeat for the #BlueTigers 🐯
Chin up lads. We'll be back for the next game! 🙌
🇧🇭 2-1 🇮🇳#BHRIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue 💙 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/wRHXDy3Zrj
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
86′ GOAL for Bahrain. A brilliant move from the hosts as a cross comes floated in the penalty area from the right and reaches Mehdi who was free in the box and he makes no mistake in tucking it past Gurpreet.
79' Substitution!
Rahim Ali & Danish Farooq ⬇️
Yasir Md & Aniket Jadhav ⬆️🇧🇭 1-1 🇮🇳
Watch 👉 https://t.co/ZTwAzYR7fC
Updates 👉 https://t.co/sTdRBjm5U1#BHRIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue 💙 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
77′ Great move from Bahrain as they attack from the right flank as the cross came in it was Sandesh Jhingan who intercepted the ball with a brilliant dive. Desperate defending from India
70′ Stoppage in play as Pronay Halder is down and receiving some treatment. It looks like he is seriously hurt, will be interesting to see if he continues.
59' GOOOAAAAAL! Roshan swings in a cross from the right, and Rahul Bheke rises above the rest and nods it in! 💪
🇧🇭 1-1 🇮🇳
Watch 👉 https://t.co/ZTwAzYR7fC
Updates 👉 https://t.co/sTdRBjm5U1#BHRIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue 💙 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
59′ EQUALISER!!!! India strikes back as Rahul Bheke heads in a brilliant delivery from Roshan Singh.
55′ SUBSTITUTION for India as Anirudh Thapa comes on for the debutant VP Suhair. A very quiet debut for the NorthEast United forward.
47′ ALMOST!! A brilliant move from Manvir Singh as he floats the ball in and Roshan almost has an immediate impact after coming on but his connection was wayward. Good move from the Blue Tigers as they are showing some intent here.
47′ SUBSTITUTION for India as Roshan Singh replaces Liston Colaco on the left flank.
46′ SECOND HALF: India resume the proceedings.
45′ HALFTIME: That’s all from the first half as India put some kind of pressure on the Bahrain defence but the likes of Rahim Ali, VP Suhair, Manvir and Liston have to more action in attack for the Blue Tigers to get anything out of this match.
42′ Indian putting some pressure but it has mostly been long balls so not much to think about from the Bahrain defence.
37′ GOAL for Bahrain as Mohqmad Hardan hands the lead for the hosts. Poor defending from India.
29′ Good move from India as Sandesh Jhingan sprays the ball forward for Liston Colaco who beats the Bahrain defence and sends in a cross which was cleared by the opposition defenders for a corner.
23′ OFFSIDE!! India enjoys some possession and a long ball to Danish Farooq is judged offside for mov9ing too early.
15′ WOODWORK!! A brilliant attack from Bahrain as their left winger delivers a perfect ball for a striker who losses Jhingan in the box but his shot hits the woodwork and stays out.
7′ PENALTY SAVED!!! India’s captain for today Gurpreet Singh comes up with a great save as he denies Bahrain from taking a lead with a great save.
6′ PENALTY for Bahrain!!! A shot from a Bahraini forward hits Sandesh Jhingan’s hand in the box and the referee points towards the spot. It was a pretty bizarre call as it was nowhere near intentional.
5′ Early pressure from Bahrain but the Indian defence have done well to thwart all the movement from the hosts till now.
1′ KICKOFF!! Bahrain sets things in motion in this friendly match.
The players are coming out on the pitch and will go through pre-match rituals before kickoff.
All set for the night's clash! 🙌
Follow the LIVE 🔴 updates here 👉 https://t.co/sTdRBj3WFT#BHRIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue 💙 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/iRx6fnkRLk
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
The Men in Blue have arrived at the stadium to face Bahrain.
The #BlueTigers 🐯 have arrived 🤩#BHRIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue 💙 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/5We5uRWxwQ
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
A sight we would love to see in blue!💙#StrongerAsOne #TogetherWeAreInfinite pic.twitter.com/t9xWGyLdB6
— NorthEast United FC (@NEUtdFC) March 23, 2022
NorthEast United’s versatile forward VP Suhair also gets his debut.
DEBUT DAY FOR DANISH! 🇮🇳 The Blues' midfielder makes his bow for @IndianFootball in their XI set to take on Bahrain tonight. #WeAreBFC #BAHIND pic.twitter.com/xN2blP7esB
— Bengaluru FC (@bengalurufc) March 23, 2022
DEBUT for Bengaluru FC midfielder Danish Farooq.
The line-up is out! 🙌#BHRIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue 💙 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/DfS8dHxQND
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
The Lineups are out!
3️⃣ Hours to Go ⏳
The final stretches before the #BlueTigers 🐯 🇮🇳 take on Bahrain 🇧🇭 in the International Friendly today 🙌
Follow the LIVE 🔴 updates here 👉 https://t.co/sTdRBj3WFT#BAHIND ⚔️ #BackTheBlue 💙 #IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/kmFOdV2uPT
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 23, 2022
🗣 @stimac_igor: "I want my team to carry a brave attitude on the pitch tomorrow"
Read 👉🏼 https://t.co/hmTqx4CVct#BackTheBlue 💙 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Pio66nYEpY
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 22, 2022
Stimac will hope that the players will be able to replicate their form in the ISL to the national team. A lot will be expected from the youngsters as Stimac will hope they can replicate their current form for their respective clubs to the national team colours.
Match Details
Match: Bahrain vs India
International Friendly
Date & Time: 23rd March 9:30 PM IST
Venue: Bahrain National Stadium
Recent Form
India will be back in action after they won the SAFF Championship beating Nepal in the finals last autumn. The Blue Tigers are unbeaten in the last nine matches and will look to extend that run even in the upcoming friendlies.
On the other hand, Bahrain have played two friendly matches at the turn of the year against Uganda and DR Congo and have won both the games. They first defeated Uganda 3-1 followed by a 1-0 win against DR Congo.
They are already eliminated from the FIFA World Cup qualifiers second round and had a very underwhelming performance in the FIFA Arab Cup in 2021.
Team News
Igor Stimac will miss the services of his talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri, he will also miss the inform Sahal Abdul Samad who could have been the metronome for the Croatian tactician in midfield. He has included seven new faces in the 25-member squad for the two matches and will look to hand everyone some chances to prove their worth. Someone like Roshan Singh will look to impress Stimac with his dead ball skills whereas Ruivah Hormipan will be keen to keep up his form this time in national colours and provide Stimac with more centre back options. Similarly, VP Suhair will also look to make the best out of this opportunity as he has waited a long time before receiving his maiden national team callup.
Probable Starting Lineups
India Predicted Starting XI (4-2-3-1): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Pritam Kotal, Sandesh Jhingan, Chinglensana Singh, Akash Mishra, Jeakson Singh, Anirudh Thapa, VP Suhair, Brandon Fernandes, Liston Colaco, Manvir Singh.
Bahrain Predicted XI (4-3-3): Sayed Jaffar; Sayed Dhiya, Waleed Al Hayam, Sayed Bager, Sayed Issa; Mohammed Al Hardan, Abbas Al Asfoor, Kamil Al Aswad; Mohamed Marhoon, Mohamed Al-Romaini, Ali Madan.
Telecast & Streaming Details
The International friendly between the Indian national team and Bahrain will not have any telecast or stream in India due to lack of technical support from the Bahrain FA as mentioned by the AIFF.
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