These are the good days for Indian football and it’s worth enjoying the times.

The Indian men’s team has a chance to lift back-to-back trophies as they made it to the final of the SAFF Championship 2023 by beating Lebanon 4-2 on penalties at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.

Both teams failed to break the deadlock after more than 120 minutes of football. India were spot on with their penalties with Sunil Chhetri, Anwar Ali, Naoren Mahesh Singh and Udanta Singh converting their chances. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu saved Lebanon’s first penalty from captain Hassan Maatouk while Khalik Bader sent the ball over the post to confirm India’s win in the semifinal.

This is the second consecutive time India overcame Lebanon in a span of two weeks, having beaten them 2-0 in the Intercontinental Cup final in Bhubaneswar. India will play for the SAFF Championship against Kuwait who had earlier beaten Bangladesh 1-0 in the other semifinal.

India made five changes from their previous match with the likes of Naoren Mahesh Singh, who has been really impressive in the tournament and Akash Mishra being benched. Gurpreet started the match along with Ashique Kuruniyan, Subhasish Bose, Pritam Kotal and Mehtab Singh. Sandesh Jhingan was missing due to suspension while head coach Igor Stimac was on the stands due to his two-match ban.

Lebanon began the match on a bright note, creating a couple of good chances in the opening ten minutes. India did better once they settled down. They came close to scoring the opening goal when Chhetri sent Jeakson Singh away with a through ball but instead of taking the shot, he passed it to Sahal Abdul Samad who was offside. For Lebanon, Maatouk went close with a freekick but Gurpreet was there to push the ball away.

The second-half was a scrappy affair, but Lebanon got the best of chances when Maatouk had only Gurpreet to beat but his shot was way off target. India created half-chances but didn’t come close to scoring.

However, in the extra-time India upped the ante. With Mahesh being on the field along with Udanta, India’s attacking play did improve, especially from the wings. Chhetri had a couple of opportunities from the middle of the box but couldn’t find the back of the goal.

Lebanon didn’t create much in the extra time and just before the penalties, they changed their goalkeeper, bringing in Ali Sabeh for Mehdi Khalil. However, the change didn’t work as India converted all their chances. Gurpreet came up with one superb save to give India the advantage in penalties and they eventually clinched the win after Bader missed his kick.

After the win, India’s assistant coach Mahesh Gawli said, “First 15 minutes we were sloppy. After that we dominated the match. You see the intensity… the intensity till 120 minutes was the same. Credit goes to the boys. We did very well, and we dominated. If had scored the [chances] which we got, the score would have been 3-0, 4-0.”

Relive all the action as it happened below:

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