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India rose to the occasion to beat Lebanon 4-2 in a tense penalty shootout in the semifinal of the SAFF Championship football match played at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday night and will now face Kuwait in the final.
India captain Sunil Chhetri opened the account for India with a neat shot to the back of the net after which goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu held his nerves to save Lebanon player Hassan Maatouk’s kick to set the stage for victory.
Anwar Ali, Mahesh Singh and Udanta Singh scored for India. Lebanon’s Khalil Bader sent the ball sailing above the crossbar for his team’s second miss.
This was also India’s second successive win over Lebanon after defeating them 2-0 in the recent Intercontinental Cup in Odisha.
