Returning to action after three years, midfielder Farukh Choudhary feels they could have scored another goal as India had to settle for a 1-1 draw against hosts Vietnam in an international friendly in Nam Dinh on Saturday. (More Football News)
Manolo Marquez's selection of Farukh had raised eyebrows b🌞ut the midfielder, who was sidelined for three years, struck a second-half goal to level things for India after Vi Hao Bui had given the hosts a 38th-minute lead.
"Personally, I feel great. I've not been a part of the national team for a long time, but this is where I wanted to be. I worked hard at my clubs and I knew in my heart that I deserved to be here," Farukhꦜ said.
The last time F𝄹arukh turned out for India, he created an assist against Nepal, in October 2021, in a 1-0 victory in Male. But an unfortunate knee injury meant that he had to start from square one on his way back to the national team.
"I'm glad that I co༺uld make a difference for the team, but I feel that we co🌞uld have scored another," he said.
"But everyone played well together as a team. Gurpreet (Singh Sandhu) ജand Anwar (Ali) also had exceptional games in defence, which is 𓃲why we got this score."
In what was a game of two halves, India heaved an almighty effort for most parts of the second half and perhaps were a bit disappointed that they could not find the winning goal.
However, the head coach remains positive about his side's display as his search for a first win in charge of Indi𒅌a continues.
"In the first half, it was practically all Vietnam. Then we discussed at half-time how we have eꦦnough quality to play, and finally, we started executing our plans in the second," said Márquez.
"Sure, Vietnam could have scored in the last minutes when ♚we were tired, but we could have scored too with our last chance. But overall, I am satisfied with this. It was a friendly game, after all."
