India vs Kuwait Final Highlights, SAFF Championship: India Beat Kuwait 5-4 In A Penalty Shoot-Out To Win 9th Title

INDIA are SAFF for the th time!

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#SAFFChampionship2023 #BlueTigers #IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/3iLJQSeyWG, — Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 4, 2023

Gurpreet Singh Sandhu saves the final goal. India beat Kuwait 5-4 in a penalty shoot-out.

GOAL, IND 5-4 KUW

GOAL, IND 4-4 KUW

GOAL, IND 4-3 KUW

GOAL, IND 3-3 KUW

SAFE, IND 3-2 KUW 

GOAL, IND 3-2 KUW

GOAL!!!, IND 3-1 KUW

GOAL!!!, IND 2-1 KUW

GOAL, IND 2-0 KUW

SAVE!!!! IND 1-0 KUW 

GOAL!!!! IND 1-0 KUW 

The extra time has ended as we go into a penalty shoot-out. Both sides should be proud of themselves. 

First half of the extra time yields no result as the 2nd half will commence soon. 

Five minutes added to the 2nd half. Will either of the side score?

The 2nd half is coming to an end. Surely, some extra time will be added to it. Will either of the side score? 

Possessions from both sides have been spot on. An excellent save by Sandesh Jhingan. Corner for Kuwait and India save it afterall.

India and Kuwait are scored one each in the first half. Interesting game lies ahead.

Four minutes have been added to the first half. A number of yellow cards have been given to the Kuwaiti players and officials in past few minutes.

Chhangte you absolute beauty!!! He equalizes for India. Don't go anywhere.. This is getting interesting. IND 1-1 KUW (40")

Anwar Ali has been stretchered off due to an injury. Mehtab Singh has substituted him. 

Kuwait has asked for a substitute as Hasan Al Enezi has been taken away on a stretcher. Meanwhile, Sandesh Jhingan has been handed a yellow card.

AND Kuwait has drawn first blood. India need to regroup soon. The defence was treaded nicely by Kuwaiti defenders.

India must be missing their regular coach Igor Stimac for sure. However, their preparation looks spot on with their passes and possessions. 

India are keeping their possession game up as they face challenge from Kuwaiti defenders. Kuwait on the attack. 

Both India and Kuwait are done with their respective national anthems. Every supporter at the Sree Kanteerava stadium is feeling the atmosphere.

Watching from the stands alongside Stimac and Rahim Ali (who will also be back for the final), Jhingan shared that they had full faith in his teammates' ability to overcome Lebanon again as they did in Bhubaneswar last month.

"But I think the team did really well. Sitting out there watching the game, I didn't feel they missed me much. Mehtab, Anwar and the whole backline did well," he said.

"I missed being on the pitch. You don't want to miss the big games, but that's how football is sometimes," Jhingan was quoted as saying in a release by AIFF in a story on its website on Monday.

Gawali's counterpart in the current team, Sandesh Jhingan, who missed the semifinal due to suspension, cannot wait to step onto the pitch for the summit clash and win his first SAFF title. In his absence, Mehtab Singh and Anwar Ali marshalled the defence, leading India to yet another clean sheet.

Gawali lifted the SAFF Championship trophy twice as a player first in 2005, in Karachi, and then in 2011 in New Delhi. But winning it as a coach will be a remarkable feat for the former central defender, especially with the quality of the teams in this edition.

Our lineup for the #SAFFChampionship2023 FINAL #KUWIND #BlueTigers #IndianFootball pic.twitter.com/avEPeEuRZ5, — Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) July 4, 2023

"It was a tense affair last time out against Kuwait, and also Lebanon. We've spoken to the boys to be calm and cool and direct all the focus on winning the final. It will be a totally different game. We have a positive feeling, and hope we can continue how we've been doing so far," said Gawali at the pre-match press conference on Monday.

Head coach Igor Stimac was sent off in the closing stages of that heated encounter and subsequently received a two-match ban, which means assistant coach Mahesh Gawali will take his place on the touchline on Tuesday as he did in the semifinal.

Tuesday's final will be a hard-fought affair going by what happened in their previous clash in the group stage of the event. It was a thrilling but anticlimactic 1-1 draw from India's point of view, as an injury-time own goal snatched victory and the Group A top spot away from them.

The Blue Tigers are hoping to defend the title they won two years ago and further stretch their dominance in the event when they take on guest side Kuwait in the final of the Bangabandhu SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Tuesday.

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the final match of the SAFF Championship 2023 between India and Kuwait here at the Sree Kanteerava stadium in Bengaluru.