India storm into SAFF Championship final

In a nail-biting match, India won the match against Lebanon in the SAFF Championship 2023 semifinal on Saturday through a 4-2 penalty shootout.

India will now face Kuwait in the finals of the tournament, who defeated Bangladesh by a solitary extra-time goal to reach the final of the SAFF Championship.

Led by captain Sunil Chhetri, India faced Hassan Maatouk-led Lebanon .

Sunil Chhetri, Mahesh Singh, Anwar Ali, and Udanta Singh scored the goals for India, while custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu denied Khalil Bader and Lebanon skipper Hassan Maatouk from the spot. Both the teams put on a great show but failed to find the nets despite coming close on several occasions.

So far India remained unbeaten, as it began its journey in the tournament with a resounding 4-0 victory over Pakistan, and followed it up with a 2-0 win over Nepal. Though India's last match ended in a 1-1 draw against Kuwait.

India missed their head coach Igor Stimac as he received a red card in the match against Kuwait.

On the contrary, Lebanon started the tournament with a 2-0 win against Bangladesh, thrashed Bhutan in the next fixture, and recorded a 1-0 win against the Maldives. In first semis, Kuwait defeated Bangladesh by a solitary extra-time goal to reach the final After 90 minutes of regulation time ended in a goalless draw, Abdullah Albloushi scored the only goal of the match with a low shot during the additional time of the first half in extra time, thus ending Bangladesh’s hopes of making the final. Kuwait are playing in the SAFF Championship as an invited team along with Lebanon for the first time and have made the title round in their maiden attempt.

Bangladesh started the game on a strong note, testing Kuwait goalkeeper Abdulrahman Marzouq in the early minutes. Within the first five minutes of kick-off, the Bengal Tigers had an attempt on target via Shekh Morsalin saved by the Kuwait custodian. Kuwait too picked up pace as the clock ticked and came close to scoring in the 10th minute. Bangladesh’s Mohammed Isa Faysal was in the right place to clear the ball off the line following a well-taken corner kick.

The two sides continued to fight the midfield battle to gain control over the game. However, both lacked the cutting edge when it came to finishing in the final third as they ended goalless in the first half. At the stroke of 60 minutes, Rakib Hossain came tantalisingly close for Bangladesh. Morsalin delivered a perfectly-weighted pass on the counter and Hossain went for glory from a very tight angle. Unfortunately, his blistering shot hit the underside of the crossbar and went wide on the left and out of play.