India
exacted sweet revenge of their last edition defeat as they beat defending
champions Afghanistan 2-1 in the summit clash in a dominating display to lift
the South Asian Football Federation Cup for the seventh time on Sunday.
India, who had lost to Afghanistan 0-2 in the
final of 2013 edition in Kathmandu, were clearly the better side in the final
match between the two best teams of the regional tournament though they had to
come back from one goal deficit and had to settle the match in the extra time.
The home side under Stephen Constantine could
have won by a bigger margin had the woodwork not denied them twice in the
match. But at the end, India ran away victors in the third straight summit
clash of the SAFF Cup between the two sides and regained the title they had won
in 2011.
Jeje Lalpekhlua (72nd minute) and Sunil Chhetri
(101th) scored for India after Zubayr Amiri had given Afghanistan the lead in
the 69th minute at the Greenfield Stadium.
The victory for 166th ranked India over higher
ranked Afghanistan (150th) gave Constantine his first win of an international
tournament after taking charge early last year for his second stint at the helm
of affairs in India.
SAFF Cup title triumph would also ease pressure
on the English coach under whom India lost five and won just one match in the
2018 World Cup qualifiers while going into the tournament.
India, who were playing in the 10th final out of
11 SAFF Cup editions on Sunday, re-established their dominance in the regional
tournament and are also likely to make a jump in the FIFA rankings which will
come out on Thursday.
For Afghanistan, who have come in the tournament
with 15 foreign-based players in their squad of 20, it was a sort of
disappointment as they had targeted a title win in their final SAFF Cup
participation. They will henceforth compete in the recently created Central
Asian Federation.
India fielded an unchanged line-up that started
in their 3-2 win over Maldives in the semi-final while Afghanistan made two changes
in the first eleven that played in their 5-0 thrashing of Sri Lanka.
The defending champions had a lot of possession
and gained slight upperhand with physical superiority in the initial minutes
but the Indians slowly clawed their way back and began to dominate the match
though the two sides went into the breather goal-less.
India though were unlucky not to have gone ahead
in the 14th minute when striker Jeje Lalpekhlua's header came back after
hitting the crossbar to the agony of the home supporters at the Greenfield
Stadium.
As early as the seventh minute, India custodian
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had to stretch full length to his right to stop Mustafa
Zazai shot on target. Four minutes later, he made another save from a shot by
Afghan captain Faysal Shayesteh for a corner.
Egged on by the big home crowd, India began to
pile pressure on Afghan defence and could have taken the lead in the 14th
minute, only to be denied by the woodwork.
Jeje played the ball for Holicharan Narzary
whose cross struck the trailing legs of Afghan player Zubayr Amiri and came off
goalkeeper Ovays Azizi. Jeje's header on the rebound hit the crossbar and came
back into play and captain Sunil Chhetri could not get on the end of it.
That was the best chance of either side in the first
45 minutes though Chhetri had another go at the Afghan goal in the 33rd minute
but his left-footer after chesting sown a fine floater from Eugeneson Lyngdoh
was blocked by the goalkeeper.
Both sides did not make any changes at the
resumption and India applied pressure in the first 15 minutes of the second
half and nearly took the lead in the 56th minute, to be denied against by the
woodwork.
Chhetri played the ball for Jeje who spotted the
goalkeeper off his line. But his left-footed 'chip' struck the horizontal and
went out of play.
Afghanistan then had some fine moves in the
Indian half and made some threatening crosses but the home side defence were
able to clear them.
But they were not to be denied in the 69th
minute with Zubayr Amiri giving Afghanistan the lead. Faysal's pass sneaked
past Arnab Mondal and an overlapping Amiri's left footer beat Gurpreet before
crashing into the Indian net.
India struck back immediately with Jeje bringing
the scoreline on level terms in the 72nd minute.
Narzary crossed the ball into the box which was
headed by Chhetri. Jeje came behind Afghan defender Sayedh Hashemi and slotted
the ball into the far corner of the net. Hashemi expected goalkeeper Azizi to
come off his line and collect. Both players looking at each other in disbelief.
India threatened to take the lead towards the
end of the match but Afghan goalkeeper were upto the task to deny them. First,
he tipped over Narayan Das' long range effort in the 84th minute after the
Indian player saw the goalkeeper off his line, and then saved Chhetri's right
footer from a free-kick.
The match went into the extra time and
talismanic captain Chhetri scored the winner. Chhetri got the better of Afghan
defender Hashemi and he kept his balance intact before sending his low
right-footed sliding shot into the corner of the net to the wild jubilation of
the home crowd
