Indian football team ends Portugal tour with a draw

LISBON - The Indian football team ended their month-long training camp here with a 1-1 draw against third division outfit Odivelas Futebol Clube in the last practice match of the tour at the Odivelas ground here Saturday morning.

India started off with Subhasish Roy Choudhury in the goal with N.S. Manju, Mahesh Gawli, Govin Singh and N. Mohanraj in the defence. Jagpreet Singh got the start as right wing back, while Baldeep Singh and Mehrajuddin Wadoo once again paired up in the centre midfield with Rahim Nabi operating from the left flank.

Baljit Sahni and Sushil Kumar Singh were the two strikers. Both the teams started the match on cautious note and the first half ended goalless.

After a pale first half, the hosts drew first blood in the 60th minute, but hardly could they have planned their further course of action. India retaliated strongly with N.S. Manju bringing his side back to level two minutes later.

Manju made no mistake to score the equalizer off Rahim Nabi’s pass from the left flank.

Both the teams failed to scribble upon the score sheet further and the match ended on neutral terms.