India face toughest test in South Championship against mighty Kuwait
Published Date – Mon 6/26/23 11:30pm
Bangalore: Already in the semi-finals, India face mighty Kuwait in their final league game on Tuesday in their toughest test yet at the SAFF Championship.
Kuwait, who have six points from two wins, are in the semi-finals with India, who will decide the winner of Group A at the Sri Kantilawa Stadium on Tuesday.
Pakistan and Nepal will face off in another match of the day, which has already looked irrelevant as the two sides have already missed the semi-finals after losing their previous two matches.
India swept Pakistan 4-0 but needed work in their 2-0 victory over Nepal. Their defense looks to be in good shape, having kept a clean sheet for eight consecutive games.
However, facing a strong team like Kuwait, the midfielder and striker must perform higher.
India fought their way past Nepal’s defense in just over an hour, while Kuwait’s defense was more organized and experienced and could pose a higher hurdle.
India’s main weapon in scoring remained Sunil Chhetri, who scored a hat-trick against Pakistan and then opened the scoring against Nepal.
Sahal Abdul Samad’s suggestion that other players, including himself, need to find the target often enough to relieve Chetri’s load is an understatement.
India will have to find multiple goal scorers before taking on formidable opponents as they will hardly give Chhetri any leeway.
“There is room for improvement in every aspect (of the game). It’s a game of possession, as much possession as possible and goals. We have a great player and he scores goals for us,” Sahar said. .
“The coach asked us to change that, we need to start scoring. Not just Sunil (Chetri) bhai.” Kuwait, on the other hand, are 2-1 against India and so far, They played a very disciplined game in this World Cup. They were outstanding in their 3-1 and 4-0 wins over Nepal and Pakistan respectively.
Although it will take time to get used to the conditions here, they still hope to continue playing the same way against India. It will also keep them in a good frame of mind going into the semi-finals.
“We played well at times, but our ball control could be better. Before coming here, we had a tough game against African teams,” said Kuwait coach Rui Bento.
“It’s very difficult to play in this weather because the humidity is so high. But I have to congratulate our players for what they achieved in the first two matches.” It was India’s first match against Kuwait since an international friendly in November 2010. The two teams have undergone layers of transformation during this period, and they don’t want to settle for any one victory.
