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India 2-0 Nepal: Sunil Chhetri, Mahesh Singh Naorem GUIDE Blue Tigers to SAFF Championship 2023 Semifinal

India 2-0 Nepal: Sunil Chhetri, Mahesh Singh Naorem GUIDE Blue Tigers to SAFF Championship 2023 Semifinal

The Indian Football Team has earned a spot in the semifinals of the SAFF Championship 2023 after scoring goals through Sunil Chhetri and Mahesh Singh Naorem against Nepal.

India vs Nepal: Indian Football Team secured their place in the semifinals of the SAFF Championship by defeating Nepal. With Sunil Chhetri’s 91st international goal and Naorem Mahesh Singh’s first-ever international goal making the difference. The match was closely contested, but India emerged victorious.

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At the beginning of the game, Nepal displayed a strong attacking presence and dominated the proceedings. However, India managed to withstand the pressure and created several promising opportunities, although they were unable to convert them into goals.

Eventually, in the 62nd minute, India broke the deadlock as Sunil Chhetri skillfully found the back of the net with an impressive shot. Following the opening goal, the confidence of the Nepal players waned, allowing India to dictate the flow of the game. Soon after, Naorem Mahesh scored his first international goal, securing the victory for India.

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Sahal and Mahesh combined well before the latter sent an inch-perfect low cross into the middle for Sunil Chhetri to tap in his 91st international goal with the simplest of touches.

India were finally getting in the groove and less than 10 minutes later, the lead was doubled after a rather bizarre first India goal for Mahesh. As Sahal sent Chhetri clean through, the skipper took his time before releasing his left-footed shot. The effort was deflected by goalkeeper Kiran Kumar Limbu, bounced twice on the crossbar before Mahesh bundled it in from point-blank range.

Despite Nepal’s best efforts, particularly from Laken Limbu who had a couple of attempts on goal, Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu stood tall and denied any goals from entering the net.

Limbu was called into action soon again and prevented the fiery Indian offence from registering more goals. He made two strong saves in quick succession to first keep out substitute Lallianzuala Chhangte’s shot from a narrow-angle before holding firm to Bheke’s header from the resulting corner.

India will take on Kuwait in their last Group A match on Tuesday, June 27, at 7:30 pm IST to determine who top the group.

Nepal XI:
Kiran Chemjong, Sanish Shrestha, Ananta Tamang, Rohit Chand, Bimal Pandey, Arik Bista, Pujan Uperkoti, Laken Limbu, Anjan Bista, Nawayug Shrestha, Manish Dangi

India XI
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Rahul Bheke, Sandesh Jhingan, Akash Mishra, Mehtab Singh, Anirudh Thapa, Rohit Kumar, Sahal Samad, Nikhil Poojary, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Sunil Chhetri

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