Bengaluru (1st July) - Defending champions India beat Lebanon on penalty kicks tonight to book their place in the final of the SAFF Championship 2023.
India has competed in every final of the SAFF Championship since 2005. In 14 editions of the SAFF Championship, India failed to be in the final only in 2005.
The Sree Kantreeva Stadium in Bengaluru was packed with almost 20,000 India supporters, but there were no goals in the 90 minutes and 2 halves of extra time.
Typical of semi-finals, both teams found it hard to create clear cut chances, but Lebanon got the chance to take the lead in the first minute when Nader Matar was open in the box but he couldn’t get his shot on target.
As the match was goalless in the 90 minutes, the match dragged on to extra time. Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri almost gave India the lead in the first half of extra time. Chhetri’s effort from outside the box was denied by Lebanese goalkeeper Mehdi Khalil. Two minutes later, Indian winger Udanta Singh’s low cross fell in to the path of Chhetri but to the surprise of the Indian fans, Chhetri’s effort went wide.
In the second half of extra time, both teams pressed to find the goal but it was India that had the golden chance. Udanta dribbled his way in to the penalty box, but his shot was saved by Lebanese goalkeeper Mehdi.
With almost two minutes remaining in the 2nd period of extra time, Lebanon made the surprise change of bringing on their second goalkeeper Ali Al-Sabaa in place of Mehdi.
In the penalty shootout, India’s Chhetri, Udanta, Anwar Ai and Naorem Mahesh Singh converted all four of India’s penalties. Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh denied Lebanes captain Hassan Maatouk while Khalil Bader missed the decisive fourth penalty of Lebanon.
