A nine-man India under-20 team lost 2-0 against Murcia in their opening match of the COTIF Cup in Valencia, Spain on Sunday. Anwar Ali and Jitendra Singh were given marching orders in the second half that weakened the Indian team.
However, in the 4th-minute, Murcia were reduced to ten men for a rash foul on Boris Singh. But they converted directly from a free-kick in the 27th minute to take the lead. The Indian colts had a glorious opportunity to restore parity in the 39th minute. But Abhijit Sarkar failed to make the most of the opportunity after he was set in the clear by Boris.
Early in the second half, India lost both their central defenders Anwar and Jitendra. Anwar was given the red card in the 56th minute with Jitendra seeing red in the 65th minute.
Murcia eventually made it 2-0 in the 80th minute to kill the match. India will face African side Mauritania on July 31 in their next clash.
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