New Delhi: It was a clear Sunday evening with Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium filled with more than 10,000 cheering their guts out for both the finalists teams. With a mood set for a perfect final, it did not turn out to be the way expected. Because as the match progressed, it unfolded a lot drama including a controversial penalty decision, red card to Afghanistan goalkeeper, a penalty retake, and then an eventual score line of 4-0 to help India retain the SAFF Championship 2011. India who took on the resilient Afghanistan in the finals were shown some initial resistance but finally prevailed over them to be crowned the champions for the record sixth time.
In the first half of the match, India were dominated by Afghanistan as they launched continuous attacks on India. Indian defence who got back the rythm between their defence and midfield in the last match against Maldives were caught could not stand upto the character and looked very confused. Had it not been for Karanjit who made some great saves for India, they would have conceded as much as two goals within the first half itself.
India also had few chances to score in the first half, but their attack lacked conviction and could not do much to put make any early inroads and put pressure on the much organised Afghanistan team. As the teams walked into the half time with no goals scored, Afghanistan did look a much better side and dominated India for majority of the half time.
After the change of ends, India looked to shift the momentum and looked to attack straightaway. Six minutes in the second India should have scored but failed, courtesy a Jeje Lalpekhlua's header at an empty net off a Clifford Miranda's pass went over the bar. After that the match was evenly poised till the fateful 65th minute when Jeje was brought down by Faisal Safa of Afghanistan within the box. The referee Sukhbir Singh immediately pointed towards the spot, which sparked a vehement protest from the Afghanistan and the situation soared new heights when their agitated goalkeeper and skipper Hameedullah Yousufzari pushed the referee. Singh who is from Singapore wasted no time and gave marching orders to Hameedullah. The match halted for five minutes as the Afghan goalie created a ruckus in the middle.
After he was pacified by the team and finally pursuaded by his teammates to leave the ground, Bashir Ahmed came into fill his shoes replacing Ghulam Hazrat. The responsibility to take the penalty was given to Sunil Chhetri and he cleanly slotted the ball in which sent an enourmous roar across the stadium. But that was short lived as he had to retake the penalty, because even before he could take the penalty Indian players barged into the box. He took to his penalty slot again and it was just a deja vu for everyone as he found the nets again to send set the atmoshphere in the stadium on fire.
After this whole chaos, the visitors indeed lost all the interest in the game as commented by their coach after the match and India left no stone unturned to take advantage on 10 man Afghanistan. In the 80th minute, Clifford Miranda who had been on roll throughout the tournament soon joined the party and scored the second goal for India off a Chettri's pass.
A minute later, an unmarked Jeje scored off a pass from his best buddy Chettri to take an unassailable 3-0 lead. The goal however saw Chettri getting injured and had to be taken out of the field on a stretcher. The result already decided, Sushil Singh was sent into replace Chettri and partner Jeje. Singh who had been non existent throughout the tournament also took full advantage of the depleted Afghan side and scored the fourth goal of the match with a powerful right footer from 20 yards to seal their fate.
Indian Coach Savio Madeira was delighted and praised his boys for the win. " The boys played really well. Technically speaking we were the only team which came into the tournament without any training due to the domestic I-League. I am proud of the boys and really appreciate the way they played," said Savio.
Afghanistan's coach Yusuf Kargar admitted that India played good, but feels that the penalty decision was a wrong one. " The penalty should not have been given. It killed our morale and the team lost all interest in the game," said Kargar.
Samikshan Dutta Choudhury
Indian Sports News