Chhetri’s grace, Gurpreet’s poker-face inspire India to SAFF champion’s place

The first thing Sunil Chhetri did was walk away.

Away from Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who stood there near the goalpost at the South Stand, arms held wide and soaking in the roar of the Kanteerava stadium, where 27,000 voices melded into one. Away from his teammates who all sprinted to Gurpreet, catching up and jumping onto the big man just as he started taking bows looking up at the West Block. Away from his head coach, Igor Stimac, who was clambering down the steps from the VIP area where he’d been banished to. Away from the one part of the pitch everyone had eyes on.

The scoreboard, right behind Gurpreet, read India 5-4 Kuwait… After drawing 1-1 across 120 minutes of high-intensity football, India had just won the 2023 SAFF Championship in sudden death penalties. If ever there was time for celebration, this was it.

And yet Chhetri walked away.

All the way across the field to the dugout where shattered Kuwaiti players stood with the empty, disbelieving stares-into-distance only a penalty shootout loss brings with it. And then he proceeded to shake their hands and pat their shoulders, one-by-one. Thank you. Well played.

In a match, indeed a tournament, that had its fair share of drama, this was a small throwaway moment; but amid all the chaos, it stood out.

You see, these two sides had been at each other’s throats for a week now. SAFF ties are pretty well contested generally, but this one involving a guest of the federation had taken it several notches higher. Last Tuesday had been witness to bench-clearing brawls, three red cards (one of which was the reason behind Stimac’s banishment to the VIP area), and plenty of flying tackles. This time around it had somehow been even more intense: the referee showed 10 yellow cards in the final (seven to Kuwaiti players) and it felt like he’d been way too lenient to both teams. Kuwait had even celebrated their early opener by doing a repeat of last week and running across the face of the Indian dugout. To call the whole thing ill-tempered would be an understatement. You’d have forgiven most excesses in celebration from either side.

But as each hand was shook, Chhetri — who himself had been in everyone’s face all game asking for fouls and cards — drove home the point that it was done. A fiery match that had seen neither team back down an inch had ended India’s way only because of the brilliance of Gurpreet, and that was it. Now it was over. By the time Chhetri finished and ran into the splash of orange that was dancing in a corner of the field, the whole stadium had joined him: ‘Well played Kuwait, well played’ replaced the whistles and the boos, hostility turned to a respect for what they had been witness to.

Goosebumps at the Kanteerava ��

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– ESPN India (@ESPNIndia) July 4, 2023

And boy, had they seen some great football: high-pressing, fast running, one-touch passing, newbie-wooing.

The two regular time goals had been sublime. Kuwait’s opener came when Mohammad Abdullah kicked a counterattack into high gear by sweeping a cross-field diagonal wide to Mobarak Al Faneeni, who in turn played it into the path of the overlapping Abdullah Al-Buloushi. The right back raced into space before picking out Shabaib Al-Khaldi, who simply had to roll it in from six yards out.

After a few flustered minutes in which they threatened to lose their heads, India fought back. For a moment it looked like the sheer quality of the goal they had conceded had knocked them off-balance, but they soon remembered just how good they were too. And when they truly embraced that realisation, they scored a sensational equaliser — Ashique Kuruniyan winning the ball back with trademark ferocity before moving it on to Chhetri. The captain picking out the blindside run of Sahal Abdul Samad with a ball of innate genius. Samad keeping his calm and passing it across the face of goal. Lallianzuala Chhangte in the right place, at the right time, to just touch it in.

It was the little touches around it, though, that elevated the contest beyond these headline moments: Al-Khaldi’s love for a good backheel. Jeakson Singh’s unusual combination of brute strength and twinkle toes. Al Faneeni’s searing pace. Chhetri winning 50-50 after 50-50 against much bigger defenders. Sultan Al-Enezi’s lazy mastery of midfield. Chhangte’s pure menace. Akash Mishra and Al-Buloushi running each other into the ground. Even in extra time — where the effects of playing once every three days for almost a month started showing on both teams — these little flashes kept shining through.

And if that wasn’t enough for a crowd that never let the decibel count dip… the drama of penalties. The ones that went in were impeccable (off the post or into the roof) and even those that didn’t were almost that. Abdullah thundering one into the crossbar and Udanta Singh smacking one just above it seemed to stem more from both players going all-out than any nervousness. The third decisive one wasn’t even a miss at all. Kuwait captain, Khaled Hajiah had placed his shot well, aiming at the bottom right corner, but Gurpreet guessed correctly and saved brilliantly. After the match, he would tell the press that he’d just decided to go one way and gotten lucky; but that save had been based more on skill than chance. “We weren’t too worried,” said Udanta after the match. “We knew he’d save at least one.”