Veteran striker I M Vijayan and captain Baichung Bhutia scored a brace each as India survived some anxious moments before prevailing over a fighting Zimbabwe 5-3 to enter the football final in the Afro-Asian Games at the Lalbahadur Shastri Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
India will meet Uzbekistan, who defeated Rwanda by a golden goal, scored by Boyev Konstantin, after the scores were level at 1-1 in the other semi-final at the Goshamahal Stadium.
India's scorers were Vijayan (25th and 33rd minutes), Bhutia (41st and 83rd) and Rendey Singh (58th), while Albert Mbano (4th), Edmore Mashiri (81st) and Simon Chipunza (87th) scored for the African nation.
After taking a 3-1 lead at half-time, India faced a late fightback from the Zimbabweans, who despite being reduced to 10 players for most part of the second half, managed to put the hosts under tremendous pressure.
Referee Subkhiddin of Malaysia had shown the red card to Mantora Asani after he knocked down Bhutia while attempting to wrest the ball and both the players had to be carried off the field.
Earlier in the first half, Zimbabwe began well, scoring in the fourth minute itself but the Indians soon started took control of the proceedings.
"We conceded an early goal. It was not easy. We knew we had to keep fighting. I am happy about the win," Bhutia said after the match.
In the Uzbekistan-Rwanda final, the former went into the lead in the 63rd minute through Saidov Mansurjon, but Mulisa Jimmy scored the equalizer 10 minutes later. After the teams were tied 1-1, the match went into the extra-time and the golden goal came in the 12th minute of the extended play.
Mbano, who scored a brace in Zimbabwe's 4-1 win over Burkina Faso in the league match, found the target off a pass from Ronald Badza.
In the 25th minute, Jatin Bisht, from the right, fed Vijayan at the centre and the veteran, who already had two goals to his credit before today's match, did not waste the opportunity and sent in a right-footer from the top of the box.
The JCT star, who has announced he will retire at the end of the continental meet, was again in the thick of the action as he came up with a nice header off a cross from Tomba Singh to put India 2-1 up.
Seven minutes later the hosts found the target again, this time Bhutia exhibited superb ball control and good finish. After receiving a pass from Tomba Singh, he beat two defenders, turned around and came with up a stiff right-footer which found the net.
After the break too the Indians kept up the pressure and made several moves. Ten minutes into the half, Zimbabwe's Asani fell down after knocking off Bhutia. As the referee was pulling out the red card, the Zimbabweans crowded the referee and protested, but he stuck to his decision and Aasani was carried off the ground.
But the Zimabweans from then on went all out and held ball possession for most part. In a counter attack, India's Renedy Singh came up with an unbelievable goal in the 58th minute as he shot a rasping long range right footer to increase the margin.
Soon Zimbabwe made quick substitutions and even replaced goalkeeper Chenjerai Dube with Tafadzwa
Dube in a bid to stop the Indian goal-glut. The substitutions saw a flurry of raids by the Zimbabweans, but defenders Muttath Suresh and Satish Bharti did a good job as did goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee.
But the persistent Zimbabweans reduced the margin in the 81st minute through a penalty kick, awarded after a hand ball by a diving Bharti inside the box.
In the very next minute, India had a penalty kick after Bhutia was tripped by captain Peter Moyo and the
former's shot sailed into the top right corner of the net.
Four minutes later, striker Chipunza slammed in the third goal for his team with a header off a cross from the right.
"It's a great win. No one believed we can win. The Zimbabweans are ranked much higher than us. This is our second win over an African nation," said India Chief Coach Stephen Constantine.
When pointed out that the teams had brought their second rung players, he said the passion to play for the country would be there once they wore the country's jerseys.
Commenting on the final margin after being up 4-1, Bhutia said: "I would have been satisfied even with a 1-0 win. A win is what we want," he said, adding that the team wants to win the final.
