India beats Lebanon to win the Intercontinental Cup
The Blue Tigers won the Intercontinental Cup for the second time.
The Indian men’s football team has beaten Lebanon 2-0 to clinch their second Intercontinental Cup title. India has beaten Lebanon for the first time since the 1977 President’s Cup.
The tournament, held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, is a round-robin style tournament played between 4 countries, India, Lebanon, Mongolia, and Vanuatu this time. India and Lebanon qualified for the final by staying unbeaten for all three games. India also won the title in 2018 when they beat Kenya 2-0.
Indian captain Sunil Chhetri (46′) and Lallianzuala Chhangte (65′) scored in the second half to lead Igor Stimac’s men to another victory. India will also head into the SAFF Championship full of confidence as they showed another resilient defensive performance and claimed their sixth straight clean sheet.
The Indian team will also enter into the top 100 rankings of FIFA countries after 4 years at the 99th position. The last time India was in the top 100 was back in 2018 when they finished the year at the 97th position.
Sunil Chhetri and Lallianzuala Chhangte were the joint top scorers with 2 goals each and the Indian defender Sandesh Jhingan was adjudged as the ‘best player’ of the tournament.
