India goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu once again showed he's one of the best players to play for the national men's team. Under pressure, he dived towards his left to pull off a one-handed save which helped India clinch the SAFF Championship 2023. They defeated Kuwait 5-4 on penalties at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru after 120 minutes of the final ended in 1-1.
This is India's ninth SAFF Championship as they won their second international trophy weeks after emerging victorious at the Intercontinental Cup.
India made three changes to the team that started against Lebanon in the semifinal. Almost the entire backline was new with Nikhil Poojary, Akash Mishra and Sandhesh Jhingan coming in for Subhasish Bose, Pritam Kotal and Mehtab Singh. Like their semifinal against Lebanon, the Indian team took some time to settle down and play their game but this time they went behind by a goal.
Kuwait were off to a really good start, moving the ball quickly and dominating possession. They scored in the 14th minute after a brilliantly orchestrated attacking move which was started by Mohammad Abdullah. His 'outside of the boot' pass found Mobarak Al Faneeni who moved it on to Abdullah Al-Buloushi on the right. Al-Buloushi sprinted towards the box and passed it to Shabaib Al-Khaldi who made no mistake in beating Gurpreet from the centre of the box.
In the semifinal, Lebanon also started in a similar way but couldn't convert their chances. Kuwait did and India were put under pressure early on in the match.
After conceding though, India found their rhythm and started to play better. While captain Sunil Chhetri didn't score, it was his sublime pass to Sahal Abdul Samad that left Kuwait defenders scrambling behind. Sahal squared it up to Lallianzuala Chhangte stuck his foot out to score the equaliser for India in the 38th minute.
The second half saw both teams creating half-chances but were not able make an impact on the scoreline. As expected, the match was very physical in nature with the referee getting involved numerous times to show the yellow cards. In total, there were ten yellow cards, seven of them being shown to Kuwait players.
India made changes as the match progressed with Mahesh Singh and Udanta Singh coming in while Anwar Ali had to go off due to an injury and was replaced by Mehtab Singh. Despite losing Anwar, India's defence didn't falter as Sandesh Jhingan stepped up and took control. His positioning was spot on which made it easy for him to clear any danger.
A minute before the match went to penalties, Chhangte had a huge chance to win it for India but his shot from inside the box went over the goalkeeper. By the time the 30 minutes of extra time came to an end, both sets of players were spent after playing through a high intensity physical battle. And for the second match in a row, India had to find a win via penalties.
Gurpreet, who was the hero last time against Lebanon, once again had to do it for his team, only this time it will be for a trophy. Chhetri scored India's first penalty but Abdullah missed his so India gained an advantage right away. Jhingan and Chhangte scored but Udanta missed his shot as Kuwait made it 4-4 after five shots each. In the sudden death, Mahesh scored for India but Kuwait captain Abdulrahman Marzouq's shot was saved by Gurpreet, which ensured India win the title.
The crowd in Bengaluru turned up in numbers and they were a happy bunch by the time they were going back home. They got to see Chhetri and his team win a tough final.
(Relive the action from the game, with our minute-by-minute coverage below.)