Sunil Chhetri-led Indian team played out a 1-1 draw against Kuwait in the SAFF Championship football on Tuesday. Captain Sunil Chhetri's goal had given Team India the lead, but India's Anwar Ali's own goal in the second half leveled the scores at 1-1. The result of this match did not matter much, as both the teams have already qualified for the semi-finals. The match was played at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.
Team India brilliantly started the match and continued the counter-attack. Forward Ashiq Kurunian and Chhetri kept Kuwait defenders at bay. Meanwhile, midfielders Mahesh Singh, Jackson Singh, Anirudh Thapa, and Lallianzuala Chhangte prevented the ball from entering India's box and kept Kuwait's forwards under pressure. Defenders Nikhil Pujari, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali and Akash Mishra did brilliantly when required.
Team India got the advantage of this a few minutes before half-time when Chhetri scored. Captain Sunil Chhetri scored the 92nd goal of his international career. He gave Team India the lead in the 45+2nd minute by scoring a cross from the penalty corner. By half-time, the Indian team had taken a 1-0 lead over Kuwait.
After this, Team India counter-attacked in the second half as well. However, during this time high voltage drama was also seen in the match. After halftime, Indian coach Igor Stimac was once again sent off the field by the referee. After this, Indo-Kuwait players clashed on many occasions. In the 90th minute, there was an on-field brawl between the players of both teams. After this, the referee showed red cards to Hamad Al Kalaf of Kuwait and Rahim Ali of India.
Got eight minutes of injury time, in which both teams were playing with 10-10 players. Meanwhile, to clear the ball on Kuwait's counterattack, India's Anwar Ali sent the ball to his goal post. With this, Kuwait equalized. This was the score till the end of the match. Before this match, the Indian team had not scored any goal in eight matches, but in this match, one goal was scored against them and that too was a suicide goal.
India and Kuwait teams were playing against each other after a long time. The last encounter between the two took place almost 13 years ago in November 2010, in which Kuwait had won India by a margin of 9-1. Both teams made it to the semi-finals of the tournament, but both were vying for the top spot in Group A. Despite the score being equal, the Kuwaiti team finished first in the group stage due to scoring more goals. At the same time, Team India stood second. Earlier, India had defeated Pakistan 4-0 and Nepal 2-0.
Kuwait's best FIFA ranking is 24.
Kuwait has a great history in football. The best FIFA ranking of this team, which played in the 1982 World Cup, is 24. However, at present the situation is not the same. He currently has a FIFA ranking of 143, which is much lower than India's 101. At the same time, India's best FIFA ranking has been 94. Kuwait showed glimpses of their old self in their 3–1 and 4–0 wins against Nepal and Pakistan.
Will have to reduce the dependence on Chhetri in terms of goals
The Indian team did win 4-0 over Pakistan, but in the 2-0 win against Nepal, it did not have any goals during the first hour. In terms of goals, the team's dependence on 38-year-old striker Sunil Chhetri is very high. He has scored five of the team's total of seven goals so far. Team's midfielder Sahal Abdul Samad says that other players of the team, including him, will have to target more and more targets so that the load on Chhetri can be reduced. Chhetri looked very active even in the match against Kuwait. However, in the semi-finals, apart from Chhetri, others will also have to shoulder the responsibility of scoring goals.
So far four matches have been played between India and Kuwait
There have been four matches between India and Kuwait so far, in which Kuwait has won two and India has won one, one match has been drawn. However, in the two matches that Kuwait won, they won by a large margin. The two teams faced each other for the first time in the 1978 Asian Games. Then Kuwait defeated India 6-1. After this, in a friendly match played in 2004, India won 3-2 over Kuwait. In a friendly match played in 2010, Kuwait defeated India 9-1.
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