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Late goals sink India

India produced a superb display of their fighting ability but it was not good enough to prevent them from going down 2-3 to favourites Uzbeikstan in a thrilling Group 3 encounter of the Asia Cup Football qualifiers at the Al Ain stadium in Abu Dhabi last night.

India led 2-1 till 15 minutes from the final whistle, but Uzbekistan came up with two fine goals in the dying moments to ensure that they stay on top in the championship.

The Indian players fell to the ground in despair when the match ended as they lost the tie in the last few minutes for the second successive time.

They had lost to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Sunday in similar fashion, having led 1-0 at the breather.

India scored their first goal through Jo Paul Ancheri in the 16th minute.However, Uzbeikstan's Shaukhrajton Rahmonkulov sent in the equaliser in the 18th minute.The two teams were tied 1-1 at half-time.

Ten minutes into the second half, popular striker and skipper I M Vijayan cleverly lobbed the ball behind the tall Uzbek goalkeeper Safonov Evgene to put India ahead again.

Under intense pressure from the Indians, the Uzbeks created some fine openings before Fyodorov Andrey restored parity for his team through a goal in the final stages.

Left half Shirshov Nikolay hit the third goal for Uzbekistan a little before the final whistle much to the relief of his teammates and coach Rahimov Mahmood.

UNI