At a time when Indian football team was written off from the World Football scene and recorded an excellent win in the SAFF cup and re-established its supremacy in the regional tournament and are also like to make a jump in the FIFA rankings to endorse their performance. India beat Afghanistan 2-1 to lift the coveted trophy. Thus India exacted sweet revenge of their last edition defeat as they beat the defending champion. The final played at Thiruvananthapuram gave Team India home support and a move to go a step forward in football. Egged on by the support, India piled pressure on Afghan defence and could not have taken the lead but the ball hit the goal post to our dismay. The dominance over the cup was really revealed as India entered the final for the 10th time in 11 editions of SAFF Cup. The home side under Stephen Constantine could have won by a bigger margin had the woodwork not denied them twice in the match. But at the end India ran away victors in third summit clash between two sides and regained the title they last won in the year 2011. It was inspiring show by the Indian forwards and the team is in the seventh heaven with a facile win.
C.K. Ramani
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
