India go down on Houghton's debut

Vancouver: Englishman Bob Houghton's stint with the Indian football team started on a dismal note when the side was beaten 1-3 by Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the four-team tournament.

David Testo and David Morris scored for the hosts who also benefitted from an own goal conceded by N S Manju. The sole goalscorer for the Indians was JCT Mills striker Sunil

Chetri. The home team led 2-1 at the break.

The local side was the more dominant team in the encounter and could have won by a wider margin had it not been for the excellent display by Sandip Nandy in the Indian goal.

After the Indian custodian had made two good saves in the first 10 minutes, Freddy Mascarenhas found himself in a good position in front of the Whitecaps' goal, but put his shot over the target.

The visitors were punished two minutes later when David Testo struck a low hard shot from the top of the box to put the home side ahead.

The Indians were finding it difficult to deal with the tricks of Martin Nash who was pulling the strings in the midfield in an effective fashion.

The home side continued to press and David Morris found Tino Cucca alone 15 yards out whose low shot was just wide of the far post in the 34th minute.

But the Indians went two behind in the 37th minute when in a bid to clear a dangerous ball in front of the goal, Manju put it in his own net.

India were thrown a lifeline just before half-time when Surkumar Singh sent in Sunil Chetri alone up the middle and the young striker placed it past a helpless Whitecaps keeper Josh Wicks.

Houghton pulled out his substitutions in the second half to fashion an equaliser but Indians could not find the net again.

Morris put the result beyond doubt when he scored from a Tony Donatelli pass in the 73rd minute.

In the next match of the tournament, the Chinese U-20 side meets Cardiff City FC of Wales on Friday and the losers will take on India in the third place playoff.

India is using the tournament as preparation for the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers against Saudi Arabia and Japan later this year and the Doha Asian Games in December.