India beats Lebanon 4-2 on penalties after a goalless draw in SAFF Championship semifinal

India beat Lebanon 4-2 on penalties at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium to enter the SAFF Championship final. The tie was goalless until the end of extra-time, and in the ensuing shoot-out, India was flawless. Sunil Chhetri, Anwar Ali, Naorem Mahesh and Udanta Singh didn’t even allow the Lebanon goalie to guess right, bulging the net with aplomb.

India beat Lebanon 4-2 on penalties at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Saturday to enter the SAFF Championship final.

The tie was goalless until the end of extra-time, and in the ensuing shoot-out, India was flawless. Sunil Chhetri, Anwar Ali, Naorem Mahesh and Udanta Singh didn’t even allow the Lebanon goalie to guess right, bulging the net with aplomb.

For the visitors, captain Hassan Maatouk missed the opening spot-kick, before Khalil Bader blasted the fourth into the stands to usher the end. In Tuesday’s final, India will meet Kuwait, which beat Bangladesh 1-0 after extra-time.

On the day, India changed as many as five of its six defensive players – one of them was forced because of Sandesh Jhingan’s absence – with only Anwar Ali retaining his place from the draw against Kuwait. And the rejigged defence was sliced open at will, especially in the opening 10 minutes.

Nader Matar fluffed a volley from close range in the first minute before Zein Al Farran missed a one-on-one. For India, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, selected over Amrinder Singh in goal, sprayed a few long balls to shift the action to the other end, but to no avail.

But the hosts could have taken the lead in the 16th minute when Jeakson Singh was sent through by Chhetri, only for the former to square the ball to Sahal Abdul Samad, who was clearly offside.

That move though helped abate the initial pressure from Lebanon, and the contest thereafter was even-stevens. This was until the dangerous Maatouk took it upon himself to break open the game; with minutes remaining for the break, he curled in a splendid freekick, but Gurpreet was up to the task.