India beat Cambodia 3-2

Phnom Penh (Cambodia), Mar 22
The Indian men’s football team broke a 12-year-old jinx of not winning a match away from home as they beat lower-ranked Cambodia 3-2 in an international friendly here today.
Playing their first international friendly this year, world No. 132 India were given a tough fight by the Cambodians, who are 41 places below them. The last time India emerged victorious in an away international friendly was way back in 2005, when they beat Pakistan.
Stephen Constantine’s boys had a lacklustre first half but they regrouped in the second session to pump in two goals in the space of three minutes.
The win will boost the Indian side’s confidence ahead of their AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers first-leg match against Myanmar in Yangon on March 28.
Sunil Chhetri (35th minute), Jeje Lalpekhlua (49th) and Sandesh Jhingan (52nd) found the target for India, while Cambodia scored through Khoun Laboravy (36th) and Chan Vathanaka (62nd).
Anas Edathodika and Milan Singh made their international debuts.
The two substitutions at the interval — Jhingan and Lalpekhlua coming in for Arnab Mondal and Daniel Lalhlimpuia, respectively — did the trick for India. And despite Cambodia desperately throwing men in attack during the later stages, India held on. — PTI
Need to start quicker: Constantine
India coach Stephen Constantine admitted that the team needs to “start quicker”. “We need to start quicker. We have a habit of taking it a bit lightly and starting the game slowly. We can’t afford to do that,” he said.
“We had some good moments in the match and the boys need to get used to playing with each other,” he said.
“At the end of the day, it’s a win and I am very happy for the boys. But we have a sterner test next week, an acid test in fact,” he said, referring to the match against Myanmar.