Kochi: Turkmenistan came from a goal down to round off their 2018 FIFA World Cup/2019 AFC Asian Cup joint-qualifying Group D campaign with a 2-1 victory over India on Tuesday.
India took the lead five minutes after Turkmenistan skipper Arslanmyrat Amanov failed to convert a 21st minute penalty when Sandesh Jhingan headed home a looping free-kick from Narayan Das, with the 22-year-old left-back’s 26th-minute opener giving the home side a one-goal lead going into the interval.
But India’s advantage would last until just three minutes into the second half when Amanov atoned for his earlier penalty miss when he headed home at the far post following a cross from Artur Gevorkyan before Serdarali Atayev turned the tide of the match in the Turkmen’s favour when the 31-year-old, who made his national team debut in the Group D fixture against Guam last June, scored what transpired to be the winner with his first international goal.
The victory was Turkmenistan’s fourth of the campaign as the two-time AFC Challenge Cup runners-up consolidate their third-place finish in Group D with 13 points, ten more than India who ended at the bottom of the table with just one win from their eight matches.
Eight group winners will advance to the third round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, as well as straight to the 2019 Asian Cup in United Arab Emirates, along with the four best runners-up.
The other four runners-up will progress to the third round of qualifying for the Asian Cup, along with all the third-placed teams and the four best fourth-placed teams.
The remaining sides, which will include Bangladesh, will have to negotiate past two rounds of playoffs for one of the final eight spots in the Asian Cup third qualifying round.
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