It was not just a trophy that Igor Stimac and his men brought the country when they followed up their Tri Nation Cup win in March with the Intercontinental Cup on Sunday. Their 2-0 win over higher-ranked Lebanon in the final in Bhubaneswar also ensured a climb back into the top 100 of FIFA rankings and added a leaf in the record books as their sixth consecutive clean-sheet broke a record set by the national team in 1951-52, under the guidance of Syed Abdul Rahim. Sunil Chhetri had scored a brace when India won by the Intercontinental Cup in 2018 and the skipper broke the deadlock at Kalinga Stadium in the 46th minute only for Player-of-theMatch Lallianzuala Chhangte, who had provided the assist for the first, to put the game beyond Lebanon with a 66th-minute strike. The story of the first half unfolded almost the same way for both teams who began with high press football at both sides. Stimac looked to have chosen his best eleven — after his reshuffle with the youngsters during the competition — to start the game with the experience of Chhetri upfront and Gurpreet Singh under the bar. Aleksandar Ilic, however, stuck to the starting lineup that he had used throughout the tournament. — IndianFootball (@IndianFootball) What followed for the 101st and 99th-ranked teams was a slew of attacks from the wings and the flanks that led to no conversion in the final third.
For India, Anirudh Thapa and Ashique Kuruniyan kept making moves from the left flank while Nikhil Pujary did the same from the right. But their crosses lacked the right aim and direction. Sahal Abdul Samad also put on display his quick feet and skills inside the box on a few occasions. But the final pass could never reach an onrushing Chhetri. It was the same frustration at the opposite end as Lebanon’s hard-working skipper, Hassan Maatouk, kept creating chances, aided by the pace of Zein Farran and Khalid Badar in the wings. But Karim Darwich was unable to lead them to a change in scoreline. — IndianFootball (@IndianFootball) The first half saw a slew of corners from both sides and a couple of free-kicks that, too, failed to affect the course of the game. There was, however, bad news for Lebanon early on as the dependable left-back Nader Matar, who had been a fort for the visitors throughout the meet, had to be replaced with Mohd Zein on being injured. The defenders at both ends also forced the absence of a breakthrough in the first 45 minutes as they maintained their shape and stayed strong in the face of the attacks. However, all of that changed after the change of ends as Chhangte, who had been conspicuous with his absence from the action in the first half, brought on his skills in the second and led to a scathing pass — after a run from the right and a one-two with Pujary to rid the defender — to Chhetri in the 46th minute, who made no mistake to lend it a final touch past the Lebanon custodian, into the goal, Sandesh Jhingan and Anwar Ali dealt with them strongly and the 26-year-old Chhangte complemented their efforts, this time getting his own name on the scoresheet. In the 66th minute, new substitute Naorem Mahesh Singh sent in a shot at the goal after a pass from Chhetri that was saved by Lebanon ’keeper Ali Sabeh, who failed to hold on to the ball only to find the rebound sent in by Chhangte. With this title win, the focus will shift to SAFF Championships in Bengaluru as India gear up for the World Cup qualifiers and next year’s Asian Cup. 6/19/23, 11:11 AM India crowned Intercontinental Cup champions
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