Sunil Chhetri was once again the man who rescued the Indian men’s football team as they registered their first win of the SAFF Championship 2021 on Sunday with a 1-0 win over Nepal. After the disappointment of the two previous draws against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, India laboured to a win over Nepal to keep themselves alive in the tournament and make for an interesting final day.
India are now third with five points from three matches. Maldives currently lead the table with six points from three matches and Nepal are second with as many points but inferior goal difference. On the final day of round robin stage, India play Maldives while Nepal and Bangladesh fight it out among each other.
India showed more urgency than their previous games but they were rewarded towards the end of the game. After huffing and puffing and missed a few chances throughout the game, Chhetri found the back of the net in the 82nd minute to win the game for India. Brandon passed the ball towards Farukh who nodded it towards Chhetri, who volleyed it home.
Prior to the goal, Nepal didn’t look a lot under threat and were quite comfortable defending against India. They pushed hard to equalise after the goal as well but could not make it happen.
After scoring the goal, Chhetri just looked like a relieved man given he had missed two free headers earlier in the second half and he had a horrific miss in the first half. Suresh Singh Wangjam cut back the ball for Sunil Chhetri, who had an open goal to aim at. The Indian captain though missed the sitter and failed to put India in the lead. Close to the end of the first half, Manvir Singh also got in a good position to score but instead of directly going for the shot, he tried to take a touch first and instead, missed the ball completely.
India kept a lot of the ball and Brandon Fernandes starting did prove to be the difference. His vision on the pitch enabled India to play more expansive and use the space better.
Nepal though did well to stay solid at the back and create a couple of half openings themselves. Nepal’s strategy was clearly counter-attacking as they tried to release their striker Manish with long balls repeatedly.
Unlike the match against Sri Lanka, Chhetri did not look isolated today and was heavily involved in the gameplay. The ball were reaching him and there was some good battle between him and Nepal goalkeeper Kiran Limbu.
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