'Glad I could make a difference for team': Farukh after India's 1-1 draw vs Vietnam

Farukh Choudhary, the star of India's 1-1 draw against Vietnam in an international friendly on Saturday, is happy to contribute to the national team but said India could have scored more goals.

Farukh's selection for the match raised eyebrows since he was sidelined for three years. But he scored a second-half goal to level the score after Vi Hao Bui had given Vietnam a 38th-minute lead.

With India holding the hosts to a 1-1 draw, Farukh said, “Personally, I feel great. I have not been a part of the national team for a long time, but this is where I wanted to be. I worked hard at my clubs and I knew in my heart that I deserved to be here."

“I am glad that I could make a difference for the team, but I feel that we could have scored another,” he said. “But everyone played well together as a team. Gurpreet and Anwar also had exceptional games in defence, which is why we got this score.”

The last time Farukh turned out for India, he had clocked an assist against Nepal, in October 2021, in a 1-0 victory in Male. But an unfortunate knee injury meant that Farukh had to start from square one on his way back to the national team.

Manolo praises Farukh

India head coach Manolo Marquez was impressed with the striker's performance. "I think he had a good game. He did what we expected him to do. It wasn't pre-planned to take him off at 70 minutes, but his contribution was important," said Marquez.

Talking about the match, the Spanish coach of the Indian team said, “In the first half, it was practically all Vietnam. Then we discussed at half time how we have enough quality to play, and finally, we started executing our plans in the second,” said Márquez. “Sure, Vietnam could have scored in the last minutes when we were tired, but we could have scored too with our last chance. But overall, I am satisfied with this. It was a friendly game, after all.”

After the match, both India and Vietnam dined together at the team hotel before the visitors took off on their return journey.