Sunil Chhetri stirred up emotions in his final international outing but the Indian football team just could not rise to the occasion as it settled for a goalless draw against Kuwait.
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India suffered one of its most embarrassing defeat in recent years despite Sunil Chhetri's 94th international goal in his 150th match.
India had won the title in 2018 and 2023, while it was the first trophy for Syria who had finished third in 2019.
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ATK Mohun Bagan defeated Kerala Blasters 4-2 in the opening game of the 2021-22 Indian Super League, at the Nehru stadium in Fatorda, Goa, on Friday.
Qatar rode on a controversial goal to emerge 2-1 winners against India.
The result also ended the team's 14-match winless run and marked their first triumph since they beat Kerala Blasters FC back in November 2, 2019.
The result means ATKMB could not break into the top-four, remaining fifth with 20 points from 12 games.
ATK Mohun Bagan moved to the top of the table and Kerala Blasters FC entered the top-four after the two sides played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the Indian Super League.
ATK MB's first real opportunity of the game came midway through the first half when Boumous broke free on a counter-attack, shrugged off a challenge from Wangjam and managed to get a shot on target. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, however, got a strong hand to the strike and parried away.
Bagan started in a positive fashion as Manvir, who has fallen out of favour with national coach Igor Stimac, played a one-two with Dimitri Petratos before slotting it past Chennaiyin goalie Debjit Majumdar.
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Hyderabad settled the tie in their favour in the second half through late goals from substitute Liston Colaco (85', 90').
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ATK Mohun Bagan entered the semifinals of the Indian Super League with a win over Hyderabad FC in Kolkata on Saturday.
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Sunil Chhetri, playing in his 121st international in the SAFF Championship, struck in the 27th minute to place himself just a goal shy of legendary Brazillian Pele (77 goals from 92 matches).
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Earlier in the 16th minute, Ashutosh Mehta showed excellent skills and tried to create a chance from the right flank. CFC defenders intercepted the attack before he could hand the ball over to Manvir Singh.
The win ended BFC's five-match winless run as they jumped from 10th to eighth position, three points behind Chennaiyin FC.
India's men's football team played out a 1-1 draw against Nepal in an international friendly, in Kathmandu on Thursday, thanks to substitute Anirudh Thapa's equaliser after the hosts grabbed the lead.
Sunil Chhetri was once again the man of the moment as he struck a brace to inspire India to a 2-0 win over Cambodia in the third round of qualifying for next year's Asian Cup.
But they missed a flurry of chances with the striking line-up of Manvir Singh, Ashique Kuruniyan and Liston Colaco showing little coordination upfront, underlining the lack of firepower in the absence of Roy Krishna and David Williams.
The result stretches BFC's winless run to six matches.
The Blue Tigers raced to a 1-0 lead with the 21-year-old centreback Anwar scoring his maiden international goal four years after his career nearly ended on health grounds.
FC Goa's slim chances of making the semis all but went up in smoke as they remained on 18 points from 17 outings.
The Nizams remain unbeaten in the competition while JFC are yet to taste victory.
Phan Van Duc (10th), Nguyen Van Toan (49th) and Nguyen Van Quyet (70th) scored for Vietnam to no reply from the Indians whose defenders had a mediocre outing, especially in the second half.
ATKMB looked the likelier of the two teams to take the lead in the opening exchanges, with the Mariners needing two goals at least to make a comeback.
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The two teams will go up against each other again on Wednesday for the second leg
Seven-time champions India were held to a goalless draw by 205th ranked Sri Lanka despite a dominant display in their second SAFF Championships match, in Male, on Thursday.
Roy Krishna had a couple of half-chances thereafter but good reflexes from Mirshad Michu in NorthEast goal and Krishna's inefficiency to keep the ball on target kept the score to 1-0.
It was one-way traffic in the opening half with Hyderabad all over Odisha. Their dominance saw them head into the break with a one-goal advantage after creating numerous chances.
Odisha FC were a little too predictable and Hyderabad's defenders were able to deal with them without too much discomfort.
Coach Manuel Marquez seemed to have prepared well for the Mumbai test. The Nizams pinned their opponents with their high pressing approach, thus nullifying Mumbai's danger.
Vicuna rang in five changes to the side that drew against SC East Bengal while Hyderabad made two changes with Liston Colaco returning to the starting eleven.
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