Final of the 2023 Intercontinental Cup: Sunil Chhetri and Lallianzuala Chhangte lead India to victory

India won the Intercontinental Cup with a 2-0 win against Lebanon in the final on Sunday in Bhubaneswar thanks to captain Sunil Chhetri’s 87th goal for his country.

Lallianzuala Chhangte, the other hero of the summit contest, scored the game’s second goal to conclude an excellent performance, and India kept another clean sheet.

Following their victory in the tournament’s first edition in 2018, India has now won the championship twice. In 2019, North Korea triumphed.

In the 46th minute of the championship game, the 38-year-old Chhetri scored his last goal, breaking the score immediately after the game had begun after a goalless first half.

India strengthened their position when Lallianzuala Chhangte, who had assisted on the first goal, struck the back of the net in the 66th minute, stunning their 99th-ranked opponents and the almost full Kalinga Stadium crowd.

Similar to the goalless draw they played out in a meaningless encounter two days before, both sides had their fair number of opportunities in the first half despite the hot and muggy weather.

Even though India enjoyed over 58 percent of the ball possession, the Lebanese had seven shots on goal compared to the home team’s three, which once again showed a lack of creativity in the opponent’s final third.

But after the halftime break, everything was different.

The first goal came from a sprinting Chhangte cross into the box, which Chhetri calmly tapped past Lebanese custodian Ali Sabeh from close range.

The goal was the culmination of a strong buildup in which Nikhil Poojary slipped the ball to Chhangte, who then passed it to his inspired captain.

After scoring first, the Indians sought to extend their lead and were rewarded with a second goal by Chhangte.

Naorem Mahesh Singh, a replacement, tried to send a pass Chhetri had given him past the Lebanese custodian, who made the save but was unable to hold onto the ball. Chhangte scored on the rebound to extend India’s advantage.

Igor Stimac, the head coach of India, gave his charges a dressing-down during the break because he was unimpressed with their performance.

“We performed well for the first 10 minutes, but after that, we seemed to vanish. At halftime, I confronted the players because I was upset. After the victory, Stimac observed, “We were really excellent in the second half, but there is still more work to be done to set ourselves up for opponents like Australia (in the AFC Asian Cup).

The Blue Tigers had a strong start earlier and were looking to score goals, but they were unable to take advantage of the few opportunities that presented itself.

Even Stimac was enraged when Ashique Kuruniyan was hauled down inside the Lebanese box in the sixth minute and the home team immediately called for a penalty but the referee remained uninterested.

When Lebanon attempted to attack off the counter, India found themselves in a difficult situation. However, Ashique made a foul, accepted a yellow card for the team, and stopped the opponents from racing towards the India goal.

The teams need two cooling breaks since it was so hot and muggy.

With 87 goals in 137 appearances, Chhetri is now the third-highest goal scorer in international football, after only Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.