India beat Laos 2-0 in its final AFC U-20 Asian Cup 2025 qualifying match at the Lao National Stadium KM16 on Sunday but has still not managed to qualify for the final round of the tournament.
Qatar beat Jordan 3-2 but the latter still managed to qualify second with six points and solid goal difference. Australia too managed to draw its last game wth Saudi Arabia to end the group stage second with 10 points. India, despite being second in its group with six points, doesn’t have a good enough GD to make it through to the AFC Asian Cup as one of the best second-placed teams of the tournament.
Gwgwmsar Goyary and Thanglalsoun Gangte were the goalscorers for the Blue Colts.
As it stands, India is second in Group G with six points and a goal-difference of +4. Iraq tops the group with nine points having won all its matches.
India spent most of the first 45 minutes lurking around the Laos area to find a goal but had to troop back to the dressing room without success. While the home side rode its luck to keep the scoresheet clean, India missed a host of opportunities. Going by the trend of the proceedings, the Blue Colts should have been up by a comfortable margin, but they failed to avail chances that came their way.
Kelvin Singh Taorem surprised everyone around when he couldn’t find the target despite having the Laos goalkeeper at his mercy. Kop Lokpathib, the Laos custodian, by far the busiest person on the pitch, looked more relieved than anyone around when Goyary ballooned over the bar from just outside the six-yard area.
India was the better side and penetrated almost at will. But it didn’t break the ice. While Laos survived by the skin of their teeth, Indian strikers switched to the tactics of unleashing long rangers. It didn’t help. Most of the shots were off-target; the rest landed straight in the keeper’s hands.
There was no change in the pattern in the second session, except that Laos took advantage of India’s frustration. As India U20 increased men in attack in search of the elusive goal, Laos seized the opportunity to go for the counter-attacks.
Twice the Indian goal experienced rare attacks that had all the ingredients to leave them red-faced. Thankfully, Sahil was alert under the bar on both occasions.
Barring these stray attacks by Laos, its goal was under constant siege by the Indian strikers. At least three positive chances were missed by the men in blue in quick succession before their relentless pursuit for a goal bore fruit in the 69th minute. A long ball from Manglenthang Kipgen found Goyary inside the box, who beat the goalkeeper with a grounder.
In the 84th minute, substitute Thanglalsoun Gangte fired the second goal from inside the box.
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