India rode on skipper Sunil Chhetri’s 87th international goal and Lallianzuala Chhangte’s strike to beat Lebanon 2-0 in the final and lift the Intercontinental Cup at the Kaling Stadium on Sunday night.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has blazoned a cash price of Rs 1 crore for the Indian men’s football platoon for winning the Hero Intercontinental Cup then. India rode on commander Sunil Chhetri’s 87th transnational thing and Lallianzuala Chhangte’s strike to beat Lebanon 2- 0 in the final and lift the Intercontinental Cup at the Kaling Stadium on Sunday night.
“It’s a matter of great pride for our state to host this prestigious Intercontinental Cup. Congratulations to India on their palm in the face of stiff competition. It’s our intention to hold numerous further football events in Odisha and support the growth of the sport in Odisha and India,” Patnaik said during the ending form.
All India Football Federation chairman Kalyan Chaubey thanked the Odisha government for successfully hosting the event.
“We could not have had a better venue and ending to the Hero Intercontinental Cup. I thank Odisha government for extending all support and hospitality to the sharing brigades and for hosting a spectacular event,” he said.
The elderly Indian men’s football platoon will be facing the first test of its Asian Cup bournes when it takes on a youthful Lebanon side in the final of the Hero Intercontinental Cup on Sunday.
The title decider will be held then at the Kalinga Stadium, which preliminarily saw the completion of the league stage where India surfaced as the crusher with seven points. Lebanon, which finished second with five points, is the rival as India looks to recapture its winning meter after drawing the last league game intent with the former( on Thursday).
“Effects were in our favour in the last match and it could have been a nice palm. But it didn’t be, and now we need to continue with our sweats and reach our thing in the final, ” Stimac said ahead of the title fight. The draw in the last match also ended the seven- game winning run for India. Stimac said that he hoped to see his platoon recapture the winning touch in the final. “ I would have been bothered if we weren’t creating chances, but that hasn’t been the case in the event, ” he said. “ Our boys are playing with great faith, and we need to keep supporting them so that they keep rising, ” said Igor Stimac.
Lebanon’s Serbian trainer Aleksandar Ilic said it’ll be a great achievement if his platoon can turn the tables on India. “ The maturity of our team is youthful and doesn’t have a lot of transnational experience at the elderly position. I’m really proud of my players for making it to the final, ” Ilic said while adding that his platoon is eager to make history as Lebanon has not played in any final in 59 times.
“We faced a lot of difficulties in forming the platoon and had a choice of just 16 players in the original matches. We didn’t have our regular central protectors and had to manage with players who play as protective midfielders. Despite all the rigors we’ve reached the final and we’d like to make the utmost of it, ” Ilic said, while adding that six players latterly joined the side to make it a team of 22 now.
“We need the speed and organization to get the better of the physical game that Lebanon plays. We’ve certain( injury) problems with some players in the team but we will assess their fitness formerly again in the practice moment and make changes in the team if needed, ” Stimac said about the condition of the team ahead of the final. “ But we will surely do everything within our capacities to make our sympathizers happy then, ” he added.
Injury enterprises have come to bother Stimac, who’ll be missing the services of Ishan Pandita. The forward is nursing an injured hamstring that he suffered during training ahead of the event. “ Pandita could have been a great asset for us and could have answered our scoring problems. We had a lot of prospects from him but in the alternate week of his training he disaccorded with Sandesh (Jhingan) and pulled his muscle in a way that he’s uncertain now for a long time, ” Stimac said while adding that Ashique Kuruniyan, with a disquieting ankle, and Rahul Bheke are also not fit enough to play the complete duration of the match.
“If we want our strikers to come up we need to support them when they’re getting a chance. Rahim Ali has gift and he now needs support and appreciation to do well in the public platoon, ” said Stimac when asked about Sunil Chhetri’s mate in attack.
The Indian platoon entered a lot of appreciation from the Lebanon trainer, Ilic, who said that he’s relatively surprised with the metamorphosis passing to the Indian platoon in the last decade. “ I’m appreciatively surprised about the Indian platoon. They’ve done an amazing job over the last ten times, and Indian football looks a lot different now. In this event, India have rotated heavily in every game, but the value the players bring to the pitch hasn’t changed, ” said Ilic, who apropos was Indian head trainer Stimac’s teammate in the Spanish club Cadiz CF in the early part of the 90s. Know More Latest Football News…
