India's win against Myanmar was a fine example of why teams should not tamper with winning combinations.

By Supriyo Goswami

India beat Turkmenistan 2-1 in the first game of the tournament, then drew against Tajikisthan before going on to beat Myanmar 1-0 in the semi final, all with the same team.

With Mahesh Gawli not even in the substitutes, the defence had to rise to the occasion and they did it with a lot of heart.

As early as the second minute, Indian captain Bhaichung Bhutia's deft and swift attempt had the Myanmar goalkeeper under pressure. The move was instrumented by the magical Steven Dias from the right.

In the 14th minute, Myanmar's captain cut through the Indian defebce and the hosts would have surely been down 1-0 had it not been for a brilliant save by Indian goalkeeper Subroto Pal.

On a turf that had more mud than grass, both teams started attacking from the wings, India from the left and Myanmar from the right.

An absence of any mid field play left Bhutia frustrated and consequently saw the referee showing the Indian captain a yellow card.

The best package of football, however, was on show in the last 10 minutes of the first half. Myanmar's Yampaing came in right infront of the Indian goal but centreback Anwar somehow managed to get in front of the volley.

India's best chance came in the 38th minute, when Surkumar Singh sent a defence splitting past to Sunil Chhetri, who only had the goalkeeper to beat. But Chetri struck it wide of the right post.

The second half was more of a slugfest with rains pouring down. India continued to miss some golden chances with Bhutia hitting straight to the keeper and Chetri going nowhere with his header.

The surface was such that the players tuned in to play more of a kick and run style of play than pass and play. However, the Indian captain's years of experience on such surfaces was to come in handy in the dyinng stages.

The moment of inspiration came in the 82nd minute, when Bhutia fended off two defenders and more importantly managed to keep the ball to himself. Instead of picking the unmarked Dias on the right, Bhutia chose to pass to Chhetri on the left, who read the flight of the ball perfectly and nodded it home.

3,000 fans, who had braved the torrential rain to cheer the home team broke into absolute frenzy.

Speaking to ESPN STAR Sports after the match, Chetri said he was under no pressure even though he had comitted a gravce error in the first half: "My captain and coach encouraged me to go on. That inspired me and took the pressure off me even though I had made a mistake in the first half."

India coach Bob Houghton said his team did not have any strategy in place for the second half: "We did not have any strategy in place. I just asked the boys to be mentally strong and believe in themselves. We were trying to keep the ball in the Myanmar half in the second half and it paid off. It was impossible to play any other kind of football other than kick and run in these coditions."

The valiant team effort was rounded up by the briliance of Pal at the goal, Dias and of course Chhetri and Bhutia.