- Friday, April 19, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA lifted their eighth SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) title on Saturday (16) when they defeated Nepal 3-0 at the National Football Stadium in Male, the Maldives. India captain Sunil Chhetri continued with his good form in the tournament to score of the his team’s goals in the final and finish as the top scorer with five goals, a feat which also earned him the best player’s award. All the three Indian goals came in the second half.
For India, former Under-17 World Cupper Suresh Singh Wangjam and super-sub Sahal Abdul Samad scored the other two goals to ensure that the Blue Tigers came back strongly in the tournament after drawing their first two goals with lower-ranked Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. India defeated Nepal and defending champions Maldives in their next two games to make the finals.
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India made a couple of changes to their starting line-up as Anirudh Thapa and Chinglensana Singh came in for the suspended Subhasish Bose and the injured Brandon Fernandes.
India, who lost to the Maldives in the 2018 final, came close to scoring in the fourth minute when Yasir played in a ball from the right for Thapa but Nepalese goalkeeper Kiran Limbu came out of his line to stop him. The Nepalese defenders kept India at bay till the break.
Chhetri’s goal in the 49th minute saw him equalising Argentina superstar Lionel Messi in terms of scoring of international goals (80). Chhetri, who went past the legendary Pele (77 goals) in this tournament, is now joint fifth with Messi but took 31 matches less than the latter. Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo is at the top of the table with 115 goals from 182 games.
For Nepal, it was their best show at the SAFF Championship, bettering their third-place finish in the 1993 edition.
After their SAFF title, India will now gear up for the AFC Asian Cup 2021 qualifying third round which is set to begin next year.
