India Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was the perfect example of the ‘Cometh the hour, Cometh the Man’ phrase. In the penalty shootout, he executed a match-winning save which meant that the Blue Tigers won their ninth SAFF championship title. After this, he was surrounded by his teammates except for India skipper Sunil Chhetri. He went to Kuwait players to shake hands.
Meanwhile, after India’s win, the fans at the Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru started chanting ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’ sung by AR Rahman years back. Close to 100,000 people were there to support the home team, in India. In the game, both teams ended up getting a goal each at the full-time. Even in the extra time, both teams were leveled at the same score. In the penalty shootout, both teams converted their chances and were 5-4 at one point.
It all came down to the last shootout from a Kuwait player. He needed to score to keep the game alive and bring it down to three shoots in penalty. However, that didn’t happen as Sandhu deflected the ball. With this, the Blue Tigers won by 5-4.
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Crowd chanting Vande Mataram after that winning save by Gurpreet ??
What a atmosphere for football match finally ??#IndianFootball#SAFFChampionship2023pic.twitter.com/JlmjRmvPhr— Mayur (@133_AT_Hobart) July 4, 2023
Notably, both teams had a heated history in the tournament. Earlier in the tournament, one of the Kuwait players celebrated in the face of Indian Dugout after leveling the scores in the dying moments of the game. However, India’s coach Stimac was also suspended from being part of the dugout for the rest of the tournament as he tried to disrupt the game. Seven players from the visiting team were handed a yellow card in the final. Three Indian players also faced the same punishment
