Kyrgyzstan held Lebanon to a 1-1 draw, a result that will do no harm to India’s chances of qualifying for the final from the five-team league in the Nehru Cup football tournament. A favourable result for the home side in their next match against Sri Lanka on Wednesday will make defending champions India a front-runner once again and ensure a packed house when they take on favourites Syria in the last league match on Saturday.
Lebanon had looked like one of the top contenders for a spot in the final after they had beaten India by a solitary goal in the tournament opener. But they seem to have lost steam subsequently, going down 4-3 to Sri Lanka while on Tuesday they were unable to put it across un-fancied Kyrgyzstan.
In fact, it was a surprise to see Kyrgyzstan have the better of the attacks, the first half seeing them close to scoring a few times, but without success. Zemlianuhin Anton twice struck the post, once off a cross from the left and then from just inside the box. The first shot went straight into the framework while the second deflected off the goalkeeper to the post. The two shots came in subsequent minutes (31st and 32nd) and signified the dominance of the team at that point in time.
The first session failed to see a single goal, but Anton finally found the mark with his persistence. A left-footer put the team ahead, but the celebrations that the team had, were not to last long.
It was now the turn of Abbas Ahmed Atwi to be in the midst of action. Kasin Vladimir was unable to check the striker he dodged in from towards the right to come up with an equaliser within one minute of the first goal of the match. In fact, he was at the front of another attack shortly afterwards, but hit wide.
