Gurpreet the hero as India beat Kuwait to lift ninth SAFF Championship title

Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was the hero once again as India defeated Kuwait 54 via sudden death penalties in the final to defend the SAFF Championship title at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here on TuesdayThe win added another chapter to Indias glorious history in the SAFF Championship as the Blue Tigers created football history to win the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship 2023 title This was a recordextending ninth title triumph for India in the SAFF Championship and what makes it sweeter is that in the process India defeated both the guest teams Lebanon in the semifinals and Kuwait in the finalAlso Read SAFF Championship Sunil Chhetri key as India face KuwaitIn the summit clash of what was the biggest and most competitive SAFF Championship ever Sandhursquos winning save etched Indias ninth subcontinental title adding another chapter to the nations regional supremacy The game ended 11 after 120 minutes Shabaib AlKhaldi had put Kuwait in front early on and newlycrowned AIFF Player of the Year Lallianzuala Chhangte equalised later in the first halfWith this win Igor Stimac becomes the first foreign head coach to win backtoback SAFF Championship titles This was also the first time that India defeated two West Asian countries in backtoback matches after winning the semifinal against Lebanon also on penaltiesIt was a cautious start to the game with both sides trying to keep hold of the ball and build from the back India registered the first shot on target a rather weak one as Lallianzuala Chhangtes header from an Akash Mishra cross fell straight into the gloves of Abdulrahman MarzouqKuwait took the lead with a meticulouslycrafted move in the final third Mobarak AlFaneeni sprayed the ball to rightback Abdullah AlBloushi whose cutback was slotted into the net by an unmarked Shabaib AlKhaldi right outside the sixyard boxThe hosts not feeling let down one bit fed on the thunderous support of the capacity crowd almost equalised in the very next minute Chhangtes powerful leftfooted strike from the edge of the box was saved by Marzouq before Chhetri rushed in to meet the rebound but Khaled Hajiah cleared it awayThat chance sparked off the Indian front line and the cautiousness of the beginning gave way to an allout attack However both sides suffered setbacks in defence as Hasan AlEnezi and Anwar Ali had to be substituted due to injuries The Indian suffered a blow to his hamstring and was replaced by Mehtab SinghIf Kuwaits opener was a proper team effort India bettered it with an even more silky smooth goal for the equaliser After Ashique Kuruniyan was allowed time on the ball on the left he picked out Sunil Chhetri who in turn spotted Sahal Abdul Samads run into the box and played him through with a firsttime pass The midfielder laid it for Chhangte across the face of the goal who tapped it in with the gaping goal in front of himThe two teams made many attempts but could not find the net Semifinal hero Gurpreet came to Indias rescue again in the dying minutes of the second half diving low at his near post to push out Abdullahs rightfooted shotImmediately on the other end Kuwait had two close shaves Mahesh found Rohit Kumar on the overlap whose cutback fell just behind Chhetri and into no mans land Just before the fulltime whistle Chhangte found Udanta in the box who slipped before the loose ball fell for Chhetri but the skipper could only fire overThe trend continued in the extra time as both sides created opportunities but could not find the back of the netIt came down to the dreaded penalty shootout in the end the second in a row for India in the 2023 SAFF Championship after having defeated Lebanon from the 12yard spotChhetri Jhingan Chhangte and Subhasish scored for India while AlOtaibi AlDhefeery Mahran and AlKhaldi netted their respective penalties for Kuwait For India Udanta was the only unsuccessful penalty taker sending his spotkick over the crossbar while Abdullah hit the woodwork from his kick for KuwaitSandhu was the hero of the night as he saved the last penalty of the SAFF Championship final by Kuwait captain Haijah to win India their ninth titleThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever