India held by Yemen

India, without its captain Bhaichung Bhutia, were held to a 3-3 draw by Yemen in the Asian Zone Group 8 qualifying match on Friday night, and suffered another blow to its dreams of qualifying for the World Cup, for the first time.

I M Vijayan led the side in Bhutia's absence, and Yemen drew first blood in the 14th minute through a penalty kick, Salemi completing the formalities. Three minutes later, Jo Paul Ancheri capped a fine move with the equaliser.

Salemi, yet again, helped Yemen into the lead in the 20th minute, and again, India equalised through Khalid Jamil in the 39th. The two teams went in to half-time on 2-2.

I M Vijayan put India in the lead for the only time in the game, when he struck in the 6th minute of the second half. But the Indians failed to hold on to the lead, with Salemi completing a personal hat-trick with his third strike in the 62nd minute.

India was on a roll after starting its campaign with a stunning upset of UAE in its opener. But have since faded away, drawing Yemen 1-1 at home, and now away, and in the meantime losing the away match to the UAE 0-1. India now has five points from four matches with two to play, namely the home and away ties to Brunei.

The UAE, meanwhile, blitzed Brunei 4-0 and maintained its lead on top of the pool table. This is the UAE's third win in four games, leaving them with nine points while Yemen, with eight points, is in second place.

Wins both home and away to Brunei will only get India to nine points -- which is where UAE is now. This means that India not only has to win, but also to pray for favourable results in other pool games involving UAE and Yemen, to stand a chance of qualifying for the next stage.