Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made the distinction as soon as once more as he saved a vital penalty kick within the summit conflict to assist India beat Kuwait 5-4 within the shootout and clinch SAFF Championships title for the ninth time right here on Tuesday.
After 5 rounds of penalty kicks, the scoreline remained 4-4 and sudden demise rule was utilized.
Mahesh Naorem scored however a diving Sandhu saved Kuwait captain Khaled Hajiah’s shot to the wild celebration of the house followers and on the India dug out.
In the regulation time, Shabaib Al Khaldi had put Kuwait within the lead within the 14th minute earlier than Lallianzuala Chhangte equalised within the thirty ninth minute.
Defending champion India and Kuwait had additionally performed out a 1-1 draw of their final group match.
This was the second time India received within the penalty shootout. They had made it to Tuesday’s summit conflict after beating Lebanon 4-2 in penalty shootout within the semifinal on July 1. Sandhu had additionally made a vital save within the shootout then.
For India, captain Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jhingan, Chhangte, Subasish Bose and Mahesh transformed whereas Udanta Singh missed.
Before the shootout drama, Kuwait held a slight edge as they pressed ahead for objectives typically within the first half.
The relentlessness fetched the specified outcome within the 14th minute. Mobarak Al Faneeni launched Abullah Al Bloushi on the left wing with a deft move. Al Bloushi discovered Shabaib Al Khaldi contained in the field with an correct cross which the latter slotted previous India custodian Sandhu to offer Kuwait 1-0 lead.
India may have levelled the scores inside a minute however Kuwait goalkeeper Abdul Rahman blocked Chhangte’s lengthy ranger.
But Chhangte, who was named AIFF Men’s Player of the Year on Tuesday, was to not be denied a second time within the thirty ninth minute.
After a stunning alternate of passes between Sahal Abdul Samad and captain Chhetri, the latter discovered an unmarked Chhangte deep contained in the field. Chhangte, India’s energetic No. 12, had little bother in beating Abdul Rahman to search out the equaliser.
It atoned for Chhetri’s failure to attain through the regulation time for the second match in a row to an extent.
In the second half, the motion continued to circulate thick and quick as each India and Kuwait looked for the winner.
Both sides got here near scoring their respective second objectives, however unable to do this, because the match moved in the direction of the additional time for the second successive time for each the groups.
The further time too witnessed frenetic motion from each the perimeters. There have been couple of accidents, yellow playing cards to gamers and officers of each side and a slew of corners.
But that the decisive purpose didn’t come by, making a penalty shootout necessary to select the winner.