The Maldives national football team came from a goal down to avoid defeat at the hands of India as its prepares for its first qualifying match later this month to earn a spot at the 2014 World Cup tournament in Brazil.
The Maldives is scheduled to face Iran on July 23 for the first leg qualifying match for football’s largest competition, with the return fixture set for July 28.
However, preparations for facing Iran, who last qualified for the World Cup when it was hosted back in Germany in 2006, appeared to get off to a bad start for the Maldives on Sunday (July 10) as India went a goal ahead within 18 minutes during a friendly match at the national stadium in Male’.
According to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Indian Captain Sunil Chhetri opened the scoring for the visitors during the first half after finding his way onto a Steven Dias corner to head his team in front. India were reported to continue to dominate play after taking the lead, yet were unable to build upon the single goal deficit they held over the homeside.
Despite coming near to doubling their lead in the 43rd minute of the match through Jeje Lalpekhlua, India were immediately punished by the Maldives through Mukhtar Nasir, who fired a curling effort over goalkeeper Subrata Pal to round out the first half in a stalemate.
India continued to pressure in the second half with a number of notable chances falling to Lalpekhlua, but the home side held on to secure a 1-1 draw ahead of facing experienced World Cup qualifiers in the form of the Iranian national side.
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