World Cup qualifiers: India lose 1-2 to Turkmenistan, finish last

KochiIndia ended their 2018 World Cupfootball qualifying campaign on a disappointing note as theylost to Turkmenistan 12 in their last group match to finishat the bottom of the heap here todayThe Indians led 10 at the breather with a dominatingshow in the first session in hot and humid conditions courtesya Sandesh Jhingan strike but conceded two goals in the secondhalf to lose the Group D match at the Nehru StadiumJhingans 27th minute header raised hopes for the Indiansto end their disastrous World Cup qualifying campaign on awinning note but they allowed Turkmenistan to come backstrongly in the second half with a sloppy performanceThe visiting side which struggled to cope with the heatand humidity in the first half regrouped themselves in thesecond and pumped in two goals through Amanov Arslan 49thand Serdaraly Atayew 70th to collect full three pointsTurkmenistan also wasted a penalty early into the matchwith Arslan shooting the ball wide off the target in the 21stminuteIndia ended their campaign at the bottom of the fiveteamGroup D with just three points with a lone win over Guam intheir home leg match last yearTurkmenistan who were also already out of reckoning inthe World Cup qualifying campaign ended at third positionwith 13 points The tiny Pacific nation of Guam ended aboveIndia at fourth with seven pointsTodays match did not have much significance for India asfar as their World Cup qualification was concerned as theywere already assured of a bottom finish irrespective of theresult A win though could have some impact on Indiaschances for qualification for the 2019 Asian CupIndia were to feature in a playoff round of even tofeature in the qualifiers of the Asian Cup irrespective oftodays result But a win today would have ensured a lesserteam for them in the playoff round of the Asian CupqualifiersThe Indians were to be blamed themselves for todaysdefeat as they squandered a 10 lead with a dominating displayin the first 45 minutes as they controlled the match till theend of that periodTurkmenistan however could have taken the lead in the21st minute as they earned a penalty after Pritam Kotalbrought down Arslan Amanov inside the area Arslan himselftook the spot kick but shot wide even as Indian goalkeeperGurpreet Singh Sandhu dived at the right directionIndia punished the visiting side for wasting the penaltyas central defender Jhingan came up to head home from a setpieceHe outjumped his Turkmenistan rivals to connect a NarayanDas freekick which India earned after a foul on captain Jeje Lalpekhlua who led the home side as an injured Sunil Chhetri did not take the fieldTurkmenistan who had beaten Oman and drawn with mightyIran in their campaign showed in the second half why they areranked 113th in the FIFA charts 47 places above India as theybrushed aside the tough playing condition here to score twicein the second halfTurkmenistans equaliser though was due to a goalkeepingmistake by normally reliable Gurpreet as he found himself outof position as the cross from Didar Durdiyev sailed over himfor an unmarked captain Arslan to head the ball home into theempty netSecond half substitute Atayev then scored the what turnedout to be the winning goal in the 70th minute as he got thebetter of every Indian inside the box to slot the ball homeHe sidestepped an advancing Gurpreet and then fired a lowshot into the net with all other Indian defenders trying toreach to the ball in vain