Intercontinental Cup: Sunil Chhetri scores brace in 100th game as India beat Kenya, make final

Mumbai, June 4: The day had Sunil Chhetri written all over it. With the game sold out to its capacity (about 8,990 had turned up) to #Chhetri100 trending on the social media, it was hard to miss what June 4, 2018 meant to football in India. And the man at the centre of it, Sunil Chhetri, did not disappoint as he netted a brace to guide India to the final of the Intercontinental Cup 2018 with a 3-0 win over Kenya at the Mumbai Football Arena on Monday (June 4). This came after a hat-trick against Chinese Taipei.

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While the first one came from the spot, the Indian skipper converting a penalty in the 68th minute, the second (90+1 minute) had class and experience written all over it as the Indian talisman chipped the Kenyan goalkeeper Patrick Matasi to cap off a memorable night.

Sandwiched between the two was an absolute beauty from Jeje Lalpekluha in the 71st minute. With a win against Chinese Taipei already in the bag, India made the final of the tournament, scheduled for Sunday. Before that, they will meet New Zealand, the likely finallists, in their last round-robin game on June 7.

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Monsoon in Mumbai has a peculiar habit. When it doesn’t rain, it ensures that the humidity level is flirting in the higher levels of the graph, but when it does, it pours; enough and more to flood the city. Though on Monday, no part of the city reported flooding, the Mumbai Football Arena was no different than the milan subway (an area famous for its floods).

The incessant rain that started at the first whistle carried on till the half time break, leaving the condition near to unplayable.

Coming into the game, the Indians knew it would be difficult to break through a physically imposing Kenyan defence. And it was no surprise that they chose to string together a series of passes and hoped to squeeze pas the Harambee Stars’ backline. Though it worked for a while, the downpour meant that the underfoot condition worsened with time and then Kenyans were quick to read the change and preferred to stay back and deal with the aerial threat than indulge to in the Indian muddy affair.

The Indians also showed their awareness on the counter in the opening half. Found on the other end of a corner clearance, Udanta Singh knocked the ball forward and burnt his pace to leave his marker chasing the shadows. But his early cross into the box turned out to be poor, allowing Matasi to rush out his line and gather the ball.

The best chance of the half, however, fell to the man of the moment Chhetri. The puddle at the edge of the Kenyan penalty area forced an error out of the Kenyan defence while trying to clear a loose ball. Chhetri was the first to get on to the lose ball. Seeing the ’keeper off his line, the Indian skipper tried and audacious dink. But unfortunately for him, it flew right over the crossbar. That was the closest either teams could come to testing the goalkeepers as they went into the lemon break on parity.

Post the break, with the rains taking a break to enjoy Chhetri in action, it were the Kenyans who took a hold of the game with their impressive array of passes. Duncan Otieno and Patilah Omoto took control of the midfield and threaded in juicy passes for their strikers to feast upon.

Pistone Mutamba was the first to come close. He got behind the Indian defence in the blink of an eye, but what followed was nothing less than misery as he dragged his shot wide of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s goal. Ovella Ochieng's then used his pace to chase down a through-ball that had the Indian backline in splits. Though he did well to poke the ball goal-wards, even that rolled wide of a diving Gurpreet. These misses, however, came back to bite them as the Indians went ahead moments later.

.@chetrisunil11 is third on the list of most international goals by active players 💪🇮🇳#BackTheBlue #INDvKEN #Chhetri100 pic.twitter.com/gxFCFKfLIi

— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) June 4, 2018

Pranoy Halder might have had a crack at the Kenyan goal from the distance, extracting a save from Matasi, but it was not until Chhetri was brought down in the area that the at the cheers inside the stadium hit the roof. The Indian skipper tried to control a cross into the box but was impeded by Michael Kibwage before he could shoot, leaving the referee with no choice than to point to the spot. Playing his 100th international game, the Indian skipper made no mistake as he slotted the ball into the Kenyan goal without much trouble to hand India the lead.

If a goal from their skipper on his 100th appearance wasn’t enough for the Mumbai crowd to burst into celebration, what followed a while later gave them enough and more to break the shackles. Found on the other end of a Holicharan Narzary cross, Jeje rifled in a thunderous strike to double India’s advantage.

100th appearance ✅
2 Goals scored ✅

RT if you think Sunil Chhetri and his appeal will help Indian Football.#Chhetri100 | #HeroIntercontinentalCup | #INDvKEN pic.twitter.com/wo5lkFA66Y

— The Bridge (@TheBridge_IN) June 4, 2018

But that was not all as Chhetri, who put up a fantastic show of hunger and desire, capped off a memorable night with his second in some style. Pouncing on a well-weighed pass by substitute Balwant Singh, the Indian talisman raced ahead of his marker in a flash and lobbed the over an on-rushing Matasi before heading towards the stands to celebrate his big day. Well, that for the ones who said this man never celebrate any of his goals.