India vs Kuwait Final: The Sunil Chhetri-led India side clinched their 9th SAFF Championship title after defeating Kuwait in penalties in a nail-biting final match. India defeated Kuwait 5-4 in penalties after both sides were level at 1-1 at the end of regulation time.
In the penalty shootout, Udanta Singh missed one penalty for India while Abdullah hit the post for Kuwait. The match went into sudden death and it was Gurpreet Singh Sandhu who saved the penalty from Hajiah to clinch the win for India. Talking about India's only goal, it was Chhetri who pushed the ball to Sahal in the middle of the Kuwait penalty box and he drove it across the goal line and Chhangte was the one who finished it off.
Earlier, last week when both sides faced each other during the group stage, the match ended 1-1. Before making it into the finals, both sides played a lot of games as it will be India’s ninth and Kuwait’s sixth in a month. Players had to slog a lot in their respective semifinal clashes, taking 120 minutes to outplay Lebanon and Bangladesh. Talking about Kuwait, they have not sealed any trophy since the 2010 Arabian Gulf Cup and a win here will help reduce their pain after they lost a whole generation of footballers the time FIFA had suspended them for more than two years (October 2015 to December 2017).
India on the other hand came to play the final on the back of a brilliant performance by goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in the second semifinal. He proved his mettle by saving Lebanon's first penalty, taken by Maatouk. This terrific save fueled the confidence of the Indian penalty shooters and as a result, they successfully converted their spot-kicks into goals. Players like Chhetri, Anwar, Mahesh, and Udanta all showed their class and skill, finding the net for India.