In the absence of their star striker and captain Sunil Chhetri, the Indian national football team narrowly missed out on their first-ever victory against higher-ranked Iraq in the King's Cup tournament on Thursday. The match ended in a dramatic penalty shootout, with Iraq emerging victorious.

India had taken a 2-1 lead in the game until the 79th minute when the referee awarded a contentious penalty to Iraq. The penalty was given after a tussle between Iraq's striker Aymen Ghadhban and two Indian defenders in the box. It appeared to be a soft decision, but Ghadhban stepped up to take the penalty himself and successfully converted it, leveling the match at 2-2 and forcing a penalty shootout.

In the penalty shootout, Iraq prevailed 5-4, with Brandon Fernandez of India missing his kick as it struck the post and went wide. According to the tournament rules, if a match is tied after regulation time, it is decided by a penalty shootout, and there is no provision for extra time.

Despite the absence of Sunil Chhetri, who was unavailable due to becoming a father, the Indian team put up a commendable performance against Iraq, who are ranked 70th in the FIFA rankings compared to India's 99th. India held their own for most of the semifinal match.

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The scoring in the game saw Mahesh Naorem giving India the lead in the 16th minute, followed by Karim Ali equalizing for Iraq with a penalty goal in the 28th minute. India then took the lead again in the 51st minute thanks to an own goal by Iraq's captain and goalkeeper, Jalal Hasan.

In the closing moments of the match, Iraq was reduced to 10 men as Zidane Iqbal was sent off for elbowing Brandon Fernandez, but the regulation time ended shortly thereafter, leading to the penalty shootout.

This loss marked the end of India's 11-match unbeaten streak in 2023. In previous encounters between India and Iraq, the 'Lions of Mesopotamia' had won six out of seven matches, with one match ending in a draw. The two teams last faced each other in an international friendly in November 2010, which Iraq won 2-0.

 

Inputs from PTI