India completed an upset win over Thailand as a 36th minute goal by Grace Lalrampari gave them a momentous win in their AFC U-19 Womens Championship football qualifiers here on Sunday.
India are level points with both Thailand and Nepal in qualifiers.
Despite this win, however, India could not make it through to the second round of the Qualifiers, courtesy their head-to-head result against Nepal.
While Thailand, Nepal and India finished on three points, the goal difference between just these three teams were counted, which left Thailand at the top with a +2 goal difference, while India and Nepal were tied at -1.
Due to this, the head-to-head result between India and Nepal came into play again, and Nepal go through.
The game started off with both the sides creating fluid chances though Thailand looked to keep the majority of possession.
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India's dream moment came in the 36th minute when Manisha powered her way down the left flank and sent in an inch-perfect cross for Grace to tap it in. As things stood at this point, India would go through, by virtue of goal difference.
India kept playing an attacking game. As a result they soon had another good chance around the half-time mark but failed.
The match continued much in the same vein in the second half as India closed down the gaps, not allowing Thailand much space in the attacking third.
But at the end India held on to the slender lead, with Archana making a couple of frantic saves in the closing exchanges to clinch the issue.
--IANS
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