India rout Bangladesh in opener

India began their campaign in the Asian Games football tournament with a bang. Two goals from skipper Baichung Bhutia enabled them to beat Bangladesh 3-0 in the Group C match in Ulsan, South Korea, on Friday.

Renedy Singh accounted for the other goal.

After a goalless first-half, Bhutia scored in the 47th and 65th minutes before Singh could complete the rout in the 66th minute.

The Indians, who have shown a marked improvement under new coach Stephen Constantine in recent international tournaments, appeared a trifle tentative in the opening half but managed to find their rhythm after the lemon break to keep their quarter-final hopes alive.

In another match in the same group, World Cuppers China also won easily, beating Turkmenistan 4-0.

In Group A, hosts South Korea defeated minnows Maldives 4-0 and Oman blanked Malaysia 1-0.

In Group-B, Thailand beat Yemen 3-0 while Vietman and United Arb Emirated played out a goalless draw as the 24-team tournament began its preliminary round two days before the Games' formal opening ceremony.

Bhutia fired the first salvo in the 47th minute of the contest with a header and then struck another goal with a neat placement from close to the goalmouth 18 minutes later to leave the hapless Bangladeshis in a daze.

The hard-working Renedy Singh then struck just a minute later, in the 66th minute, finding the target with a curler that eluded the reach of a diving custodian Biplab Bhattacharjee.

The Bangladeshis never really recovered from the brief goal-scoring assault although they did manage to come dangerously close to the Indian goalmouth on a couple of occasions.

The Indians looked a pale shadow of themselves in the opening session as they failed to play as a cohesive unit and build up the moves despite enjoying territorial advantage for most part of the session.

Locked goalless at the inteval, the Indians turned on the heat in the second minute of the second half with Bhutia finding the target, much to the delight of his teammates.

The goal was the result of a fast counter attack which saw forward Samir Naik break through the defence from the right flank before crossing to an unmarked Bhutia, who headed home from inside the box.

The goal served as a tonic for the Indians who looked far more determined after the break as they broke through the Bangladeshi defence time and again with a series of raids from both the flanks.

Relying on a combination of short and long passes to unsettle their rivals, the Indians looked in control in the second session with the forwardline spearheaded by Bhutia looking far more aggressive.

Bhutia was again in the thick of action as he placed the ball in from close to the goalmouth after substitute Tomba Singh had done all the spadework by piercing through the defence.

But it was Renedy Singh's brilliant long ranger a minute later which turned out to be the best goal of the match as the ball swung visciously to beat the Bangladeshi custodian.

The Indians could have added one more goal to their account in the 10th minute of the second session but Samir Naik failed to control his header from inside the box following a measured cross from Bhutia from the left flank.

The Indians were reduced to ten players just one minute before the long whistle when Deepak Mondal was given marching order by referee Al Harrassi Rashid of Oman for a dangerous tackle. The Indians, however, looked annoyed by the referee's decison.