Siliguri: Philippines Coach Michael Hans Weiss admitted his Team was \u201clucky\u201d to have escaped with a 1-1 draw against India in the FIFA International Friendly at the Kanchenjunga Stadium on Friday (November15). Hans was speaking at the post-match Press Conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last Header which India missed in injury time luckily sailed over,\u201d he said. He was referring to Jeje Lalpekhlua\u2019s header off Denzil Franco\u2019s cross which narrowly sailed over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia made it difficult for us in the first half. Robin Singh upfront was a constant threat,\u201d he further pronounced. \u201cBut we had our chances too. I\u2019d say, 1-1 is a fair result.\u201d<\/p>\n
India\u2019s National Coach Wim Koevermans maintained it was a Match of \u201ctwo contrasting halves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe attacked with high tempo in the first half and Sunil Chhetri put us ahead with a majestic Header. But we conceded soon. In the second half, we defended very well and should have won had the Header in injury time not gone over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPhilippines are a very powerful side. It is from matches like this that you learn. We have played some good brand of Football in the recent past and the trend continues,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
Chhetri who scored his 42nd International Goal is now at par with former India Captain Bhaichung Bhutia. Bhaichung had scored 42 Goals from 107 matches while Chhetri has equalled his record in 79 matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will score the next one in our next match against Nepal,\u201d Koevermans said in a jocular tone.<\/p>\n
However, Chhetri stressed that it\u2019s hard to \u201cremember records.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you go onto the Field there are so things which are more important. But I\u2019m happy that I scored a well-rehearsed goal. Once you score of set pieces everyone stays happy. There\u2019s so much planning which goes into set pieces,\u201d Chhetri stated. \u201cI want to thank all the fans who came over to cheer for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe played as a Team. Aiborlang Khongjee who made his International debut tonight played a wonderful game,\u201d Chhetri opined. Aiborlang became the 475th Player to have made his debut for India.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the lush-green turf came in for praise from Hans. \u201cI wish we had some 5-6 fields like this back in Philippines,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was perfect for a game of high tempo.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Siliguri: Philippines Coach Michael Hans Weiss admitted his Team was \u201clucky\u201d to have escaped with a 1-1 draw against India in the FIFA International Friendly at the Kanchenjunga Stadium on Friday (November15). Hans was speaking at the post-match Press Conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last Header which India missed in injury time luckily sailed over,\u201d he said. He was referring to Jeje Lalpekhlua\u2019s header off Denzil Franco\u2019s cross which narrowly sailed over.<\/p>\n
\u201cIndia made it difficult for us in the first half. Robin Singh upfront was a constant threat,\u201d he further pronounced. \u201cBut we had our chances too. I\u2019d say, 1-1 is a fair result.\u201d<\/p>\n
India\u2019s National Coach Wim Koevermans maintained it was a Match of \u201ctwo contrasting halves.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe attacked with high tempo in the first half and Sunil Chhetri put us ahead with a majestic Header. But we conceded soon. In the second half, we defended very well and should have won had the Header in injury time not gone over.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPhilippines are a very powerful side. It is from matches like this that you learn. We have played some good brand of Football in the recent past and the trend continues,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-isn-front-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n