India progressed to the third round of the AFC Asian Cup 2019 qualifiers after registering a 6-1 win against Laos at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday evening. The hosts headed into the game with a 1-0 advantage from the first leg, which Khonesavanh Sihavong cancelled out 15 minutes into the match. That was as good as it got for Laos as Jeje Lalpekhlua (Chennaiyin FC) and Sumit Passi both scored before half-time to make it 2-1 at the break. Goals from Sandesh Jhingan (Kerala Blasters FC), Mohammed Rafique (Atletico de Kolkata), Fulganco Cardozo and another by Lalpekhlua in the second period made it 6-1 in favour of the hosts.The Blue Tigers looked livelier of the two sides in the opening exchanges as they looked to build on their first leg advantage. Lalpekhlua could have made it 1-0 for the hosts just seven minutes into the game when an Udanta Singh cross found him with space in the box. The 25-year-old though failed to connect with Udanta’s cross, allowing the Laos defence to usher it to safety.The opening goal of the game did come nine minutes later, however, it was the visitors who opened the scoring with Sihavong getting his name on the scoresheet after a beautiful team move to make it 1-0 on the night and 1-1 on aggregate.The hosts upped the tempo straight from the restart as they looked to cancel out Laos’ opener. Sunil Chhetri (Mumbai City FC) had a big shout for a penalty five minutes after the restart but the referee waved play on much to the relief of the visitors.India’s head coach Stephen Constantine didn’t wait long to use his options from the bench as he introduced Jackichand Singh (FC Pune City) for Udanta four minutes before half-time. It was a decision that turned out to be a masterstroke with the substitute completely changing the complexion of the game before long.Having been on the pitch for less than a minute, Jackichand weaved his way past Laos’ defence and provided a delightful ball from the right to an unmarked Lalpekhlua in the box, who made it 1-1.Jackichand got his second assist of the night just with the last attack of the half. This time Jackichand danced his way through the left side of India’s attack before squaring perfectly to Passi, who put the ball into the back of the net and made it 2-1 to India heading into the break.The second half started in the same way as the first with India on the front foot. It took the hosts just four minutes to add to their first half tally courtesy of a perfectly weighed Eugeneson Lyngdoh (FC Pune City) free-kick that was guided into the back of the net by a Jhingan header.The floodgates had opened by this stage and Lalpekhlua got his second of the night in the 75th minute after being played through on goal by Chhetri. India’s in-form striker calmly slotted the ball into the bottom left corner to make it 4-1 in their favour.Chhetri was at it again shortly after when he executed a delightful elastico to take him past Laos’ backline before finding Rafique at the edge of the area. Rafique’s powerful shot was closed down by the Laos defence but a few cruel deflections saw the ball loop over their keeper in goal.With three minutes remaining, Jackichand completed a hat-trick of assists by crossing from inside Laos’ penalty area to find debutant Cardozo at the far post. Cardozo effortlessly guided his header beyond Laos’ keeper to make it 6-1 on the night and give Constantine his biggest win as national coach.
