SAFF Championship: India beat Lebanon 4-2 on penalties, reach final

BENGALURU: Indian men's football team defeated Lebanon 4-2 in a penalty shootout to storm into the SAFF Championship 2023 final at Bengaluru on Saturday.

India will take on Kuwait in the final and have moved up one spot to 100th in latest FIFA rankings.

In the other semi-final earlier in the day, Kuwait defeated Bangladesh 1-0, as per Olympics.com. It was left to penalties to decide the semi-final match after regulation time finished without a goal and extra time failed to produce a winner. Hassan Maatouk and Khalil Bader for Lebanon missed their penalties in the shootout while India converted all four of theirs. India has previously defeated Lebanon twice, most recently by 2-0 margin in the Intercontinental Cup 2023 final. India drew 1-1 with Kuwait in their last Group A match after defeating Pakistan 4-0 in their first meeting.

Sandesh Jhingan, the defender who received a suspension from this match due to his second yellow card in the previous match against Kuwait, and head coach Igor Stimac, who was barred from the sidelines after his second red card offence in the last match, were both absent as India began its pursuit in the match. The home team pushed up the pitch and launched a wing assault. Lebanon got the first chance to score. Zein Farran of Lebanon collected the ball on the right and attempted a goal shot, but Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh saved the day. India persisted with attacks. In one such move, Sahal Abdul Samad received a through-ball from Sunil Chhetri that was intercepted by Jeakson Singh on the right. Ali Dhaini of Lebanon, however, made a critical interception to prevent India from scoring.

India upped the ante to try to win in regulation time and replaced Pritam Kotal with Nikhil Poojary ten minutes into the second half. Lallianzuala Chhangte's dribble into the Lebanon box and attempt for goal nearly paid off but Mehdi Khalil made an important stop for Lebanon. India gained confidence as time ran out and pushed players forward in an effort to score, but they were unable to get through the Lebanon defence. India made a last-ditch effort to score when assistant coach Mahesh Gawli substituted Udanta Singh with Ashique Kuruniyan. Both teams were unable to score after 90 minutes of play, and the game entered extra time. India captain Sunil Chhetri had two excellent opportunities to give the home team the lead in the first half of extra time but was prevented by the Lebanon defence on both occasions. Both sides were involved in an end-to-end battle in the second half of extra time, but neither team was able to score. Udanta Singh, Mahesh, Anwar Ali and Chhetri found the net for India during the penalities.