SAFF Championship_India

The host nation fought back from 1-0 down to beat Afghanistan 2-1 courtesy of goals from Jeje and Chhetri.

India battled to a 2-1 win over Afghanistan after extra time to win the 2015 SAFF Championship final at the Trivandrum International Stadium in Kerala on Sunday. The defending champions opened the scoring through Zubayr Amiri (70') before Jeje Lalpekhlua (72') dragged the hosts level. Sunil Chhetri (101') then settled the tie in extra time. 

Stephen Constantine has named an unchanged line-up from the team which downed Maldives 3-2 in the semis. Petr Segrt made two changes as Zubayr Amiri and Mustafa Zazai are included in the first eleven as they replace Omid Popalzay and top scorer Khaibar Amani.

The first chance came in the 11th minute when Faysal Shayesteh’s shot from inside the box saw Gurpreet being tested.

Three minutes later, India created the best chance of the half. Jeje does well under pressure from two Afghanistan players to keep the ball and play it for Narzary. The former Pailan Arrows striker’s cross took a deflection off Norlla Amiri and Ovays Azizi was forced into a reaction save. Off the rebound, Jeje’s header came off the crossbar.

Midway into the first half, Jeje played it for Narzary whose cross into the box was headed away before Jairu could get on the end of it.

Afghanistan won a number of free-kicks but Kanischka Taher’s deliveries were far from being accurate. After the half hour mark, Lyngdoh played a ball for Chhetri who chested it down and his left footed shot was blocked by Masih Saighani.

Jeje and Chhetri combined before the latter played the latter through on goal but Azizi was alert to come off his line and collect in time.

Narayan Das’ shot from range in injury time was parried away by the Afghanistan goalkeeper to keep the score-line 0-0 at half-time.

Seven minutes into the second half, Mustafa Zazai shot from inside the box but Gurpreet was equal to the task by parrying his effort for a corner. In the 56th minute, Chhetri played it for Jeje who spotted the goalkeeper off his line and his effort kissed the crossbar on its way back.

Afghanistan broke the deadlock in the 70th minute. Faysal played a ball for Amiri inside the box whose shot goes straight into the far corner. Two minutes later, India equalised through Jeje. Narzary crossed into the box which is headed by Chhetri which saw Jeje slot the ball home into the far post as he capitalised on the miscommunication between Hashemi and Azizi.

Gurpreet was called into action in the 75th minute when he kept a shot out from Faysal. Chhetri could have won it for India in the 87th minute from a free-kick when Azizi dived to his left to keep his effort out.

In the first half of extra time, Chhetri scuffed his shot into the back of the net as Hashemi allowed the India skipper a lot of time and space to finish inside the box.

Jairu had a chance to add a third but he made a run down the left and instead of passing it for Jeje and Chhetri inside the box, his left footed shot missed the top corner.

In the second half of extra time, Kanischka’s free-kick was punched away by Gurpreet. However, the ball fell for Faysal whose shot struck the hand of Mondal. The Afghanistan players appealed for handball which the referee chose to ignore. The move continued as Popalzay’s snapshot from inside the box was cleared off the line by Borges.

In the 121st minute, Faysal played a ball for Hatifie inside the box who was shoved from behind by Jairu. However the referee denied the defending champions a penalty.

The score-line remained the same as India regained their SAFF Championship title._