King's Cup 2023: Sunil Chhetri-less India go down fighting against higher-ranked Iraq in penalty shootouts

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Chiang Mai (Thailand), Sep 7: The Indian football team put up a spirited show before suffering a defeat against higher-ranked Iraq on penalties in the semi-final of the King's Cup 2023 here at 700th-anniversary Stadium on Thursday (September 7).

The Blue Tigers conceded a late goal off a debatable penalty which helped Iraq equalise in the 79th minute of the game. Coach Igor Stimac's side was looking on course to register their first-ever win over a higher team in the FIFA rankings before that moment.

Did Blue Tigers Miss Sunil Chhetri against Iraq? Not Really!

A Sunil Chhetri-less Indian side was leading 2-1 till the 79th minute when the referee awarded a soft penalty to Iraq after their striker Aymen Ghadhban was squeezed by two Indian defenders in the box during a tussle to get on to a high cross.

It did not look like a clear-cut penalty but Ghadhban himself stepped up to take the kick from the spot and scored to level the match 2-2 and take it to the penalty shootout. Under the tournament's rule, the match will be decided via penalty shootout if the scores are levelled in the regulation time and there will be no extra time play.

With the scores levelled 2-all at full time, the match went into the penalty shootout which Iraq won 5-4 as India's Brandon Fernandez failed to score as his kick hit the post and went out. King's Cup 2023: Who will Igor Stimac turn to for goals in absence of Sunil Chhetri?

Impressive Effort By Indian Football Team

It was a creditable show by the Indian team, which was without their talismanic striker and captain Chhetri, who missed the tournament after becoming a father recently. India played on equal terms against Iraq, ranked 70th in the FIFA chart (as against their 99th), for the most part of the semifinal match.

Earlier, Mahesh Naorem had given India the lead in the 16th minute before Karim Ali equalised in the 28th minute, also from a penalty goal. India took the lead in the 51st minute with Iraq captain and goalkeeper Jalal Hasan conceding an own goal with a howler of an effort.

Iraq were reduced to 10 men in the injury stoppage time as Zidane Iqbal was sent off for elbowing Brandon Fernandez but India could not capitalise much on that as the regulation time ended within a minute and there was no extra time of play. The loss against Iraq also ended India's 11-match unbeaten streak this year.

India had played seven matches against Iraq earlier with the 'Lions of Mesopotamia' winning six times, while one game had ended in a draw. The two teams played last in November 2010 in an international friendly match when Iraq won 2-0.

(With PTI Inputs)