India has progressed to the final of the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship 2023 after defeating Lebanon 4-2 in penalties in the semi-final clash at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
The game rounded off goalless in regulation time and that led to five players from each side taking shots from the spot for a place in the summit clash. The Blue Tigers were statistically more dominant of the two teams during the 120 minutes of open play. They dominated 61 percent of the possession and took six shots on target. However, a defensively disciplined and resilient Lebanese backline ensured that the Indian forwards could not find a way past their goalkeeper Mehdi Khalil.
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It all boiled down to holding the nerves together in the shootout and every Indian player converted their kick from the spot into a goal. Sunil Chhetri led the way with a clean strike of the very first shot whereas the trio of Anwar Ali, Naorem Mahesh Singh, and Udanta Singh followed up with equally impressive kicks to help India inch closer to fetching a place in the grand finale.
However, towering goalkeeper and Bengaluru’s very own Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was the star of the night for the Indian team. Sandhu, who hails from Punjab and represents Bengaluru FC, was benched in the previous game against Kuwait for his counterpart Amrinder Singh. Sandhu brushed aside any apprehensions over his form by coming in clutch at the right time as he saved shots by the opening and the fourth shots by Hassan Maatouk and Khalil Bader respectively to carry the Indian team to the final.
India will square off against Kuwait on July 4 in the final in Bengaluru, who defeated Bangladesh 1-0 in their semi-final match on Saturday.
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