Farukh Choudhary scored the first goal of the Manolo Marquez era for India, as they recovered from conceding first to draw 1-1 against Vietnam at Nam Dinh on Friday evening. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was another standout player for India, saving a penalty in the first half, and making a couple of smart stops in the second to keep the scoreline level.
Marquez made a bold change to the starting XI, as India lined up in a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Asish Rai and Naorem Roshan Singh as the wing-backs. Brandon Fernandes, starting on the left side behind Farukh, couldn't really get into the game throughout, but the likes of Lallianzuala Chhangte, Suresh Singh Wangjam and Apuia Ralte grew into the game as time went on.
In the first half, India didn't start off too well, and coudln't really deal well enough with the main Vietnamese threat - the long ball over the top to find the runs in behind of their striker Bui Vi Hao. The other forward player Nguyen Van Toan also give Subhasish Bose and Rahul Bheke a torrid time with the positions that he took up, as Vietnam created plenty of chances.
It was Bheke's mistake that gave them their first big chance, as a push on Van Toan's back was seen by the referee, who pointed to the penalty spot. The Vietnamese skipper Que Ngoc Hai fluffed his lines from the spot, as he rolled a weak effort to Gurpreet's left, which was too easy for the Indian captain who held on to the ball.
However, around 20 minutes later, Vietnam took the lead, as an unfortunate deflection off Anwar Ali left Gurpreet wrong-footed. The goalkeeper was positioned well to save the shot from Nguyen Hoang Duc, but the deflection meant that he could only stick his right foot out in vain and saw the ball roll past him.
India had a couple of chances through the impressive Farukh in the first half, but Vietnamese goalkeeper Nguyen Filip denied him on both those occasions.
Filip could do nothing about the equaliser though, which came just after half-time. Suresh played a nice cross-field pass over the top for Farukh to run onto, and he was also aided by Ngoc Hai's rash decision to jump in, which saw him miss the ball. Farukh still had plenty to do, but a delightful chip over the goalkeeper saw India draw level.
Gurpreet had to make a save from point-blank range late on in the game to keep the scores tied, after Chhangte and Liston had gone close with presentable opportunities for India.
However, in the end, the draw seemed like a fair result, and Marquez will also take positives from how India approached the game after a disappointing couple of games last month.
You can relive the match as it happened in our live blog, below: