SAFF CHAMPIONSHIP 2023: FINAL
INDIA THE CHAMPIONS OF BANGABANDHU SAFF CUP
01.07.2023 : INDIA 1(5)-1(4) KUWAIT (FT)
KUWAIT: SHABAIB ALKHALDI (14')
INDIA: LALRINZUALA CHHANGTE (37')
INDIA : Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Nikhil Poojary, Anwar Ali(Mehtab Singh), Sandesh Jhingan, Aakash Mishra(Subhasish Bose), Aniruddh Thapa(Naorem Mahesh Singh), Jeakson Singh, Sahal Abdul Samad(Udanta Singh), Lalrinzuala Chhangte, Arshique Kuruniyan(Rohit Kumar), Sunil Chetri.
KUWAIT : Abdul Rahaman, Khaled Hajiah, Hasan Alanezi, Abdullah Albloushi, Sultan Alanezi, Ahmed Afnj, Mohammed Abdullah, Shabaib Alkhaldi, Redha Abu,Hamad Alqallaf, Mobarak Alfaneeni.
REFEREE : CHETRI PRAJWOL.
Khaled Hajiah missed INDIA won by 5-4
Mahesh Singh scored, INDIA lead 5-4
Hamad Ahmed scored, SCORES are equal 4-4
Subhasish Bose scored, INDIA lead 4-3
Abdullah Mahran scored SCORES are equal 3-3
Udanta Singh missed, INDIA lead 3-2
Ahmed Aldheferry scored, INDIA lead 3-2
Lalrinzwalla Chhangte scored, INDIA lead 3-1
Shabaib Alkhaldi scored, INDIA lead 2-1
Sandesh Jhingan scored, INDIA lead 2-0
Abdulla Albloushi missed, INDIA lead 1-0
Sunil Chetri scored, INDIA lead 1-0
After 120 minutes of play scores remain at 1-1. The match will be decided by Tie Breaker.
WE ARE POSITIVE THOUGH KUWAIT IS A TOUGH TEAM: MAHESH GAWALI
3.7.23: A truly contested final awaits at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, on Tuesday evening between India and Kuwait in the final of the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship. India overcome the challenge of Lebanon in the semifinal when they beat them by a margin of 4-2 in penalty shoot out. Kuwait defeated Bangladesh by a solitary goal at the added time of the match.
In the pre match press conference today the Assistant coach of India Mahesh Gawali (member of the winning SAAF team in 2005 and 2011) said, "It was a tense affair last time out against Kuwait, and also Lebanon. We've spoken to the boys to be calm and cool and direct all the focus on winning the final. It will be a totally different game. We have a positive feeling, and hope we can continue how we've been doing so far. Kuwait are a good opponent, and the competition has been tough. Back then, we only played against SAFF teams. Winning in Karachi in 2005 was very enjoyable, but if we win tomorrow, the joy will be of a different level."
Kuwait equalised at the flag end of the match against India in the Group stages. The Head coach of Kuwait Rui Bento opined, "Yes we played a tough game against India, but from my experience over all these years, the final is always a different game. We will fight for the trophy. It's very important for the players to try to stay focused and play well. We have worked hard to reach the final, and my message to them will be to enjoy the game."
The match will start at 7.30 PM.
SAFF CUP SEMIFINAL: 2023
01.07.2023 : INDIA 0-0 (4-2) LEBANON (FT)
TIE-BREAKER: Shot 1: Sunil Chhetri Scored. Gurpreet saves the first shot.
Shot 2: Anwar Ali Scored. Lebanon scored
Shot 3: Naorem Mahesh Singh Scored. Lebanon scored
Shot 4: Udanta Singh Scored. Lebanon missed
INDIA : Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sunil Chhetri, Subhasish Bose, Anwar Ali, Anirudh Thapa, Sahal Abdul Samad, Jeakson Singh, Lalrinzuala Chhangte, Mehtab Singh, Pritam Kotal, Ashique Kuruniyan
LEBANON : Mehdi Khalil, Hassan Maatouk, Mahdi Zein, Ali Markabawi, Hasan Srour, George Felix, Nader Matar, Mouhammed Ali Dhani, Walid Shour, Zein Ali Abidine
REFEREE : Sinan Hussain
01.07.2023 : KUWAIT 1-0 BANGLADESH (FT)
INDIA WILL MISS SANDESH & STIMAC IN THE SEMIFINAL
India will face Lebanon in the semi-final of the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship 2023, at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru, on Saturday evening. India finished second while Lebanon were the leaders at the Group stages as both the teams will face for the third time in little over a fortnight.
Indian Head coach Igor Stimac will face a suspension in the dug out as he was shown the second Yellow Card during the match against Kuwait.
Indian captain Sunil Chetri and Assistant coach Mahesh Gawli were present in the pre match press conference. While interacting with the media Chetri said, "A lot of preparation is done before the game day, where he (Stimac) will be involved. Of course, you want your leader to be on the sidelines. But whatever little we'll miss during the match, his main man (Gawali) will make sure we miss him less.
We know quite a lot about Lebanon as we've already played them twice. I'm sure they have the same feeling about us. They would also want a piece of us back because of what happened in the last two games.We've been treated to some outstanding support in the last three games. I'm pretty sure you will also turn up for the semi-finals because you all love football and it's a big game for us."
The Head coach of Lebanon Aleksandar Ilic said, "Both teams know what they've got in front of them. There are no secrets between the teams anymore. We will try to build the best team with the choices we have for tomorrow. We are very motivated. It's psychologically important that we believe that we can succeed. The weather is more pleasant here. We will use those two games to build ourselves in a better way for tomorrow.
We've worked hard for the last two months and really want to prove ourselves. This will be our eighth game in India. Two of our players (Jihad Ayoub and Soony Saad) have returned to their clubs since this tournament isn't taking place during the FIFA international break. But we will adapt ourselves against a very strong team."
The match will kick off at 7.30 PM.
24.06.2023 : INDIA 2-0 NEPAL(FT)
IND: SUNIL CHHETRI 61', NAOREM MAHESH SINGH 69'
IND: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Rahul Bheke, Mehtab Singh, Nikhil Poojary, Akash Mishra, Naorem Mahesh Singh, Udanta Singh, Rohit Kumar, Sahal Abdul Samad, Aniruddh Thapa, Sunil Chhetri.
NEP: Kiran Limbu, Ananta Tamang, Laken Limbu, Arik Bista, Bimal Magar, Ayush Ghalan, Anjan Bista, Devendra Tamang, Sanish Shrestha, Manish Dangi, Rohit Chand
SAFF CHAMPIONSHIP 2023
21.06.2023 : INDIA 4-0 PAKISTAN (FT)
IND: Sunil Chhetri (10, P-16', P-74'), Udanta Singh (81')
IND: Amrinder Singh, Pritam Kotal, Anwar Ali, Sandesh Jhingan, Subhasish Bose, Jeakson Singh, Sahal Abdul samad, Aniruddh Thapa, Lalrinzuala Chhangte, Ashique Kuruniyan, Sunil Chhetri.
PAK: Saqib Hanif, Easah Suliman, Umar Hyat, Abdullah Iqbal, Moosa Khan, Jan Mohammed Khan, Rahis Nabi, Hassan Basir, Harun Hamid, Uzair Mahmood.
REFEREE: Chetri Prajwol.
21.06.2023 : KUWAIT 3-1 NEPAL(FT)
KUW: El Ebrahim (23'), Al Khaldi (41'), A Daham (P-65')
NEP: A Bista (68')
