A double from Abhishek Yadav wins it for India

India defeated Associació Esportiva El Prat 2-0 in the second practice match of their Barcelona tour on Wednesday evening, thanks to a brace from striker Abhishek Yadav.

AE Prata 0-2 India

India drew their first match 1-1 against UE Castelldefels but Bob Houghton named an unchanged starting lineup for this game also.

AE Prat began the game well and were having much of the play in the early stages, but the Spanish outfit couldn’t create too many clear cut chances as their final ball was lacking. India also produced a few half chances with skipper Bhaichung Bhutia testing the keeper once.

The referee called for a water break after 22 minutes and the game would be actually played in four parts, something very unique for a game of football.

Both teams came out with more energy after the mini interval but the Spanish team looked more dangerous going forward.

Prat’s best chance of the first half came ten minutes before the break, when India were lucky to survive a goal mouth scramble, after a nice build up by the Spaniards.

None of the teams could break the deadlock in the first half as the score read 0-0 at halftime.

Just like the first game, Houghton made several changes in the break. This time all ten outfield players were replaced with only goalkeeper Subrata Pal keeping his place.

Players like Govin Singh and Jagpreet Singh got their first opportunity of the tour while Mehrajuddin Wadoo was being used in midfield.

The second half team were performing much better and they were finally rewarded in the 60th minute. Mohanraj’s long clearance was picked up by Nabi, who played it to Renedy and the veteran midfielder’s cross was headed in by Abhishek Yadav to give India the lead.

Eleven minutes later, Yadav doubled his and India’s tally, when he headed in a Deepak Mondal cross. In between the two goals there was another mini water break, just to keep the players fresh in soaring hot conditions.

India played out the rest of the game without having to deal with too much pressure and in the end held on for an impressive 2-0 victory.

India Lineup:

Subrata Pal, Surkumar Singh (Deepak Mondal 46’), Anwar (Govin Singh 46’), Gouramangi Singh (Mahesh Gawli 46’), N.S.Manju (N.Mohanraj 46’), Steven Dias (Renedy Singh 46’), Climax Lawrence (Mehrajuddin Wadoo 46’), N.P.Pradeep (Jagpreet Singh 46’), Anthony Pereira (Clifford Miranda 46’), Sushil Kumar Singh (Syed Rahim Nabi 46’), Bhaichung Bhutia (Abhishek Yadav 46’)

Goalscorers: Abhishek Yadav (60',71')