India marches into SAFF Championship final after beating Maldives by 3-1

Indian Football news

The Indian Men’s  Football team has comfortably reached into yet another SAFF Championship final after beating the Maldives by 3-1  and this achievement is extremely special as Blue Tigers was heavily criticized by playing a draw against lower ranked Asian teams like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Sunil Chhetri

India’s Talismanic skipper Sunil Chhetri hits the winning goal against the Maldives and eventually became the leading goal scorer of the tournament with four goals and he was named Man of the Match for this performance.

He is currently standing one International goal behind Lionel Messi and talking about the match against Maldives first goal was scored by Manvir Singh. However, a penalty after Pritam Kotal’s challenge on Hamza Mohamed allowed the Maldives to equalize as Ali Ashfaq made it all square from the spot.

Chhetri put India in the ascendency with a magnificent goal in the 62nd minute and 71st minute respectively as the former nodded home Kotal’s cross.

The match was also marked with a number of bookings, with two members of the Indian contingent – Subhasish Bose and head coach Igor Stimac – being sent off towards the end of the game.

The tournament was changed into a round-robin format at the last moment after Pakistan couldn’t take part in the marquee event due to FIFA suspension and Bhutan refused to release its players.

India has remained undefeated in this edition of the SAFF Championship having earlier draws with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and then beating Nepal. India will be next locking horns against Nepal to win another SAFF title and if they are successfully able to win that title it will be their eighth Championship.

Indian Men’s Football team have to improve a lot in terms of quality and for that AIFF along with Sports Ministry should provide them adequate facility as the defensive form of football which India is playing will not help them in long run.