Football
SAFF Championship: India beats Lebanon, qualifies for the finals - Highlights
India beats Lebanon in the penalty shootout, qualifies for the second consecutive SAFF Championship finals.

FILE PHOTO: Sunil Chhetri in action against Lebanon in 2023. (Photo credit: AIFF)
Right from the start, Lebanon dominated the match, taking control of the game and quickly securing an early lead. They launched several attacks and came close to scoring twice within the first 10 minutes.
However, India managed to regain their composure and slowly regained momentum as the game progressed. After the initial fifteen minutes, India started to assert their attacking power, putting pressure on the Lebanese defense.
The game remained goalless after regulation time, forcing the match into extra time. Both teams had opportunities to score, but were unable to find the back of the net.
The match was ultimately decided by a penalty shootout. Sunil Chhetri set the tone by confidently converting India's first penalty, while Lebanon missed their opening shot. India continued their clinical performance from the spot, with Udanta Singh, Mahesh Naorem, and Anwar Ali all successfully converting their penalties.
Although Lebanon managed to convert two penalties after Gurpreet Sandhu saving the first, their hopes were dashed when Matar failed to score their fourth spot-kick. With this miss, India secured their victory and advanced to the finals of the SAFF Championship for the second consecutive time.
India will now face Kuwait in the finals of the SAFF Championship as they strive to defend the title.
As it happened:
Live Updates
- 1 July 2023 4:54 PM GMT
India qualifies for the second consecutive finals!
The defending champions of SAFF Championship have beaten Lebanon and are into the finalsss.