At around the 22nd minute, Anirudh Thapa found himself in the Uruguay penalty box. His eyes suddenly lit up. Goalkeeper Thaigo Cardozo had spilled a Ryan Williams shot and the ball was bobbing on the ground.

It’s almost as if time stood still. And sped up in real time as Thapa pounced, saw the resignation in Cardozo’s eyes and put the ball in the Uruguay net.

The Salt Lake Stadium exploded. 138th-ranked India had pulled one out of the hat.

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The goal mattered little in the context of the 1-6 rout at the hands of the South Americans. But when the final whistle blew, 37,000+ spectators seemed content as Thapa’s goal had allowed them to dream bigger for a while.

Ahead of the clash, India coach Khalid Jamil and defender Akash Mishra had stressed on maintaining focus and not conceding early against the 20th-ranked team. With India managing to restrict Brazil in the initial stages, a Uruguay team which had just one win in their last nine international fixtures didn’t seem an insurmountable barrier. Especially when they were playing without their star player Federico Valverde, ruled out due to injury.

While the hosts couldn’t prevent an early goal after Pramveer Singh’s errant challenge resulted in a penalty that Darwin Nunez duly converted in the 10th minute, it prompted them into action as India managed to level matters through Thapa.

Kolkata: Uruguay’s Darwin Nunez, 9, celebrates with teammates after scoring a penalty during an International friendly Football match between India and Uruguay, in Kolkata, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026.

Soon after, inclement weather and lightning forced the match to be stopped for around 35 minutes. That interruption hurt India’s cause as Uruguay struck right after when a low cross by Nahitan Nandez was met by Maxi Araujo and stroked into the India net in the 28th minute.

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Uruguay had more chances to surge ahead but Araujo shot one over the bar before Nunez, who was through one-on-one with goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, had his attempted chip blocked. That must have felt good for the custodian after his two individual errors led to goals for Brazil on Saturday.

India brought on Sahal Abdul Samad and Bijoy Varghese in the second half while Uruguay added some more steel to their midfield and defence with Lucas Torreira and Guillermo Varela. It made a difference straight away as Torreira’s ball was nodded into Rodrigo Zalazar’s path, who slammed one into the bottom corner to make it 3-1 in the 53rd minute.

The proverbial floodgates had opened and Uruguay slotted in another in the 59th minute when Araujo caught Abhishek Singh Tekcham flat-footed.

Substitute Juan Manuel Sanabria finished calmly after a superb transitional play to make it 5-1 in the 70th. That was followed by a well-placed goal by Rodrigo Aguirre in the 87th minute as Uruguay showed a more ruthless streak than Brazil managed against the Blue Tigers.

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India’s best chances in the second half came from Mohammed Sanan, whose check-back left Torreira in his wake but the shot was saved by Cardozo, before the Uruguay ‘keeper was called to action once again when he saved Williams’ first-time volley.