India put on a valiant display but ended up on the losing side as Turkmenistan beat them 2-1 in their final FIFA World Cup qualifying game at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Kochi on Tuesday evening. The Blue Tigers made a good start to the game by taking the lead through Kerala Blasters FC’s Sandesh Jhingan in the first half. Turkmenistan, however, came back strongly in the second half with goals from Amanov Arslan and substitute Atayev Serdarli.

Both teams started off positively with the first chance of the game falling the visitors’ way. Keeper Gurpreet Sandhu though was placed perfectly in goal to save comfortably. India responded immediately in quick succession with long-ranged efforts from both Narayan Das (FC Goa) and Cavin Lobo (Kerala Blasters FC) but they failed to force the keeper into a save.

The first big chance of the game came in the 20th minute when Pritam Kotal gave away a penalty after bringing down Arslan in the penalty-box. India, however, were offered a lifeline after Arslan stepped up to the spot only to shoot wide of the target.

The hosts capitalised soon after when a delightfully weighed free-kick from Das found Jhingan in the box. The robust centre-back outmuscled his marker with ease before guiding the ball with his head into the back of the Turkmenistan net to put the hosts up 1-0.

Turkmenistan could have gone into the break level-pegging after Astanov Umidjan had beaten Sandhu in goal with a cheeky dink over the keeper’s head but the ball fell tantalizingly in front of India’s goal and bounced over the crossbar as the Blue Tigers breathed a sigh of relief and went in at half-time 1-0 up.

The visitors began the second period at a higher tempo and were rewarded for their positive play four minutes into the second half through skipper Arslan, who calmly headed in an inch-perfect cross from Didar Durdiyev.

The goal gave the visitors a confidence boost as they looked to complete their comeback with a second goal and substitute Nazar Bayramov almost did just that in the 66th minute when he fired in a powerful that was just wide of goal.

Turkmenistan were finally rewarded for their attacking endeavour four minutes later when another one of their substitutes Serdarli completely bamboozled India’s defence in the penalty area before firing in his first shot of the game to hand his side a 2-1 lead.

India did rally and gained momentum towards the final quarter of the game as they kept probing Turkmenistan’s goal for an equaliser. Hero ISL 2015 champions Chennaiyin FC’s Jeje Lalpekhlua came closest to drawing parity for the Blue Tigers five minutes from full-time after Kotal showed some quality to produce a dangerous cross from the right flank. Lalpekhlua, who was captaining India for the first time, did not manage to make any proper connection with the ball and put the ball wide of the target as the game ended 2-1 in favour of Turkmenistan. The loss sees India end their FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign with three points from eight games, while Turkmenistan finish with 13 points from their eight games in the group.