The summit clash saw the two sides level at 1-1 after 120 minutes, after which India finished with a score-line of 5-4 in the shoot-out.
After five rounds of penalty kicks the score-line stood 4-4 as sudden-death came into play.
Mahesh Naorem scored a goal for India while being the goalkeeper for India in sudden death Gurpreet Singh Sandhu Helped the team to a thrilling victory by saving Khalid Hajiya’s shot.
Earlier in the stipulated time, Shabab Al Khaldi had given Kuwait the lead in the 14th minute. lallianzuala chhangte free mp3 download Equalized in the 39th minute.
as it happened
Defending champions India and Kuwait also played out a 1-1 draw in their last group match.
This was the second time that India won in the penalty shootout. They beat Lebanon 4–2 on penalties in the semi-finals on 1 July to book their place in Tuesday’s summit clash. Sandhu also made a crucial save in the shootout.
(PTI photo)
For India, Captain Sunil ChhetriSandesh Jhingan, Chhangte, Subashish Bose and Mahesh scored while Udanta Singh missed the target.
Prior to the shootout play, Kuwait held a slight lead as they went for goals frequently in the first half.
Tireless work yielded the desired result in the 14th minute. Mobarak Al Faneni released Abullah Al Bloushi on the left wing with a skilful pass. Al Bloushi delivered a precise cross inside the box to Shabab Al Khaldi, who was then headed in by India’s custodian Sandhu to give Kuwait a 1–0 lead.
India could have equalized within a minute but Kuwait goalkeeper Abdul Rahman stopped Chhangte’s long ranger.
But Chhangte, who was named the AIFF Men’s Player of the Year on Tuesday, was not to be denied for the second time in the 39th minute.
After a beautiful exchange of passes between Sahal Abdul Samad and captain Chhetri, Chhetri found an unmarked Chhangte inside the box. India’s energetic No. 12 Chhangte had little trouble getting the equalizer by beating Abdul Rehman.
This somewhat atoned for Chhetri’s failure to score in regulation time for the second time in a row.
In the second half, the action continued at a brisk pace with both India and Kuwait searching for a winner.
Both teams came close to scoring their second goal each, but were unable to do so as the match went into extra time for both teams for the second time in a row.
There was tremendous action from both the sides in the extra time as well. There were some injuries, players and officials on both sides received yellow cards and several corners were awarded.
But the decisive goal could not be scored, forcing a penalty shootout to decide the winner.