Thapa had India level with Uruguay until lightning stopped play, and Forlán’s side won 6-1 in Kolkata
A thunderstorm halted Tuesday’s friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium with the score at 1-1. Uruguay scored five times after the restart, two of them from Maxi Araújo.
Oct 7, 2026
India were level with Uruguay in Kolkata on Tuesday night. Anirudh Thapa had cancelled out Darwin Núñez’s early penalty after 22 minutes, and then a thunderstorm stopped the game for more than half an hour. Uruguay scored the next five goals, and the friendly at the Salt Lake Stadium finished 6-1 to Diego Forlán’s side.
Thapa’s rebound
Uruguay went ahead from the spot after Pramveer was penalised for a foul in the box, and Núñez sent Gurpreet Singh Sandhu the wrong way.
Ryan Williams made the equaliser. He shot from the edge of the area, goalkeeper Thiago Cardozo could only palm it out, and Thapa was there to sidefoot the rebound in. It was his first goal for India since March 2023, when he scored against Myanmar.
Then the lightning arrived. The players went off with the score at 1-1, and when they came back, Uruguay needed about a minute to retake the lead. Maxi Araújo turned in a low cross from Nahitan Nández at close range, and that was still the score at half-time.
Gurpreet kept it there. Núñez ran on to a through ball and tried to chip him, and the India captain rushed out and blocked it with his face.
Four goals in 33 minutes
The second half was one-way. Rodrigo Zalazar scored with a low shot in the 53rd minute. Six minutes later Araújo scored his second.
Juan Manuel Sanabria made it 5-1 on 71 minutes. Albino Gomes had replaced Gurpreet in goal by the time Rodrigo Aguirre curled the sixth into the top corner with four minutes left.
What Thapa took from it
Thapa was honest afterwards about how thin the margins are at this level. “One mistake and boom, there’s the goal,” he said. “These sort of matches prepare us for the big tournaments.”
His fix was about what India do in possession. “We need to decide when we need to slow the game down, when we need to pick the pace up,” Thapa said, adding that being “more composed with the ball” was what the squad needed to build on.
Two goals, 11 conceded
Khalid Jamil’s side finish the window with one draw and two defeats from three games against World Cup sides. Williams scored in the 1-1 draw with Panama in Bengaluru on 25 September, and Brazil won 4-0 in Kolkata on 3 October. That adds up to two goals scored and 11 conceded.
India stayed with Uruguay until the storm. After it, they barely got near them. Most of Jamil’s squad now go back to their clubs, with the Indian Super League starting on Saturday.