SAFF Championship 2013: Afghanistan 2-0 India - Wim Koevermans' side fail to defend title

Afghanistan (Azadzoy 8, Ahmadi 62)

India

Afghanistan: Mansur Fagiryar; Mustafa Hadid, Zohib Islam Amiri, Farzad Muhaiuddin, Mujtab Faiz; Mustafa Azadzoy, Mohammad Rafi, Mohammad Mashrigi, Marouf Mohammadi (Hasmatullah Mohammad 70); Sanjar Ahmadi (Ahmad Arash Hafife 75), Balal Arezou.

India: Subrata Pal; Nirmal Chettri (Dawson Fernandes 84), Gouramangi Singh, Arnab Mondal, Syed Rahim Nabi; Francis Fernandes, Mehtab Hossain, Lenny Rodrigues, Jeje Lalpekhlua (Sunil Chhetri 60); Arata Izumi; Robin Singh.

India failed to complete a hattrick of South Asian titles as they were beaten 2-0 by Afghanistan in the SAFF Championship 2013 final in Kathmandu on Wednesday.

Wim Koevermans’ side created plenty of chances but couldn’t take any while Afghanistan were clinical with their finishing and scored through Mustafa Azadzoy and Sanjar Ahmadi to lift their first-ever SAFF crown.

The Dutchman surprised everyone by keeping India captain Sunil Chhetri on the bench and started with the same eleven that took the field in the semi-final against Maldives. Afghanistan made just one change to the lineup that started against Nepal with Marouf Mohammadi making his return from suspension while central defender Farzad Muhaiuddin kept his place in the team despite the serious head injury that he suffered in the semi-final.

India started the game positively with wide midfielders Jeje Lalpekhlua and Francis Fernandes giving them a lot of width but they failed to create any clear cut opportunity.

Afghanistan were slow to get off the blocks but went in front from their very first attack. The move started when Nabi was caught out of position with Afghan right back Mustafa Hadid getting behind the India backline. Hadid’s cross fell to Arezou who somehow touched it on to Azadzoy and the right midfielder slotted past Subrata Pal.

India looked ragged after conceding as there was lack of communication at the back with both centerbacks Gouramangi Singh and Arnab Mondal having to make desperate final tackles. Mohammed Rafi also nearly tested Subrata from a freekick.

Koevermans put his faith in Robin Singh ahead of skipper Sunil and the youngster had a real physical presence upfront but he failed to hit the target after some good work by Mehtab Hossain and Jeje Lalpekhlua.

India’s best chance of the first half came after the half an hour mark when Mehtab tested Afghanistan goalkeeper Mansur Fagiryar and Jeje got to the loose ball. The Mizoram defender did well to get a shot across goal but it was cleared off the line by Afghan skipper Haroon Fakhruddin Amiri and Arata Izumi couldn’t connect properly to the rebound.

India started the second half strongly too with Robin Singh having a couple of chances and then at hour mark Koevermans introduced Sunil in place of Jeje as India switched to a 4-4-2.

Sunil almost had an instant impact as he played a brilliant one-two with Francis but hit his effort was straight at Fagiryar. Straight at the other end though India conceded.

In a brilliant counter attack, former Churchill Brothers striker Arezou was sent clean through on goal but his effort was saved by Subrata. However Ahmadi pounced on the rebound and a found the back of the net despite the India goalkeeper’s best efforts.

With less than half an hour remaining, India had a mountain to climb at 2-0 but they still had plenty of chances to comeback in the game. Most of those opportunities fell to Sunil but he was either uncharacteristically wasteful or denied by the reflexes of Fagiryar, who was also adjudged player of the tournament.

Arezou also had a chance to make it 3-0 towards the end but he missed his chance. However Afghanistan had eventually taken revenge of their SAFF 2011 final loss and lifted their maiden South Asian trophy.