India win the battle of equals

Hosts India will face Kuwait in final after their 4-2 penalty shootout win over Lebanon.

Two equals meeting each other for the third time in as many weeks meant there would be little to nothing differentiating them in a game of football.

So a penalty shootout, at the end of a goalless 90 minutes plus extra time play, was the only option left to force the semifinal result between India and Lebanon at the SAFF Championship here.

The 19,000-plus crowd, who turned up on a windy Saturday evening at the Sree Kanteerava stadium, waited with bated breath, and their patience was rewarded, finally, when eight-time champions India secured a 4-2 win on penalties to enter the final. India are set to face Kuwait for the title on Tuesday.

It was skipper Sunil Chhetri taking the first kick for India in the shootout. The 38-year-old scored while his Lebanese counterpart Hassan Maatouk's attempt was stopped by goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu. Ahead by one, India’s Anwar Ali and Mahesh Singh Naorem followed their captain's lead. Wakid Srour and Mohamad Sadek scored to keep the opponents’ hope alive.

Also Read | Former Spain midfielder Fabregas retires to take up coaching

With Udanta Singh making it four on four for the hosts, Khalil Bader missed the goalpost by a mile to send the crowd into a frenzy.

The last-minute drama was after an intense battle from the beginning to the end of 120 minutes that hardly wavered. Aggression was the tone displayed by all departments of both sides who refused to let their guards down even for a moment.

A scare for the Indian side came as early as the first minute when Nader Matar sent a clear shot on top of the goalpost. The hosts returned the favour of a near miss in the 16th minute when Sahal Abdul Samad’s chance of scoring off a Chhetri’s pass was declared offside. Another off the target header by Pritam Kotal moments later meant the scoreboard remained silent.

Gurpreet Sandhu’s two important saves before the halfway mark ensured the teams ended the first-half slugfest with zero goals. The second half followed by the extra time of 30 minutes saw a contest on similar lines.

Goals were not being scored but there was no dearth of excitement as a barrage of yellow cards, injury time-outs and good passes for wasted shots kept everyone at the edge of their seats.

The instructions came from every corner of the arena. Mahesh Gawli - a cooler candidate in the dugout covering up for the absence of the hot-tempered, twice red-carded head coach Igor Stimac - was assisted by the fans who were as involved as him in every move the home side made throughout.

On the eve of the all important match, Chhetri had requested people to turn out in numbers to support an Indian team on the upswing. Neither was the captain disappointed nor were the fans let down in return.

Earlier, the first semifinal clash between Kuwait and Bangladesh turned out to be a thrilling encounter too that went into the extra time to decide the result.

Bangladesh punched above their weight to stay on par with their opponents for the first 90 minutes but Abdullah Albloushi’s late goal in the 105+5 min saw Kuwait book their final berth.