King’s Cup 2023: After heartbreak against Iraq, India confident of beating Lebanon in third-place match

After a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat against Iarq in the King’s Cup semifinals, the Indian team will be looking to continue its recent dominance against Lebanon when it faces off in the third-place game on Sunday.

India was just 10 minutes away from recording its maiden win over higher-ranked Iraq, but the West Asian country equalized (2-2) through a debatable penalty and then went on to win the semifinal match 5-4 on shootout.

Last night’s result was a tough pill to swallow, but nevertheless we as a team will always try to put our best foot forward no matter who we face. We learn and move on. A big thank you to the fans who showed up in the stands and made their voices heard. Jai Hind 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/qxlSOKS9mj

— Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (@GurpreetGK) September 8, 2023

Igor Stimac, the head coach, criticized the referee for allegedly ‘robbing’ India of a victory. The 80th-minute penalty awarded to Iraq after its striker Ghadhban was squeezed by two Indian defenders inside the box during a high-ball tussle drew criticism from Indian captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu as well.

Head-to-head

India has won twice out of three meetings against Lebanon this year, with one victory coming after a thrilling penalty shootout in the SAFF Cup semifinal. India’s momentum is also boosted by their earlier victory in the Intercontinental Cup, a convincing 2-0 victory over Lebanon.
Lebanon may appear to be difficult opponents given that they recently lost 1-2 to the Thai hosts. Stimac’s team will rely on recent victories. In spite of Sunil Chhetri’s absence, the Indian team performed admirably up front against Iraq.

Reactions from the team

Stimac expressed his frustration through social media after the Iraq match, saying that a time will come when “even referees will not be able to stop my boys from winning such games”.

Echoing the same approach, Captain Gurpreet Singh Sandhu urged his teammates to build on their victory over Iraq.

He said, “It’s a hard result to digest, we could’ve won the game. The second penalty was questionable. But we did much better than people would have thought. We just need to believe in ourselves and be a bit more patient and positive. We also need to make sure we don’t give away opportunities to opponents, even if it looks like it’s something out of our control”.