The Indian football team displayed spectacular character as they have bagged their third international trophy of the year with a 5-4 win on penalties against Kuwait in the SAFF Championship 2023 final. It was Indian custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu who made a crucial save to help India bag their ninth SAFF honour.
He was instrumental in the win as he denied Kuwait’s captain Khalid Hajeyah in the tiebreaker to secure the trophy for India. Before this, he also stood tall in the semifinals against Lebanon and there also he denied their captain Khalil Badar to help India win the match on penalties.
Speaking to Indian Express, Gurpreet shared that he relied on his instincts to pull off the decisive saves. “I hadn’t even faced the players before and did not know much about them. It’s just your gut instinct. My mindset was to stay big and stay there (on the line) as late as possible, make sure I don’t make the decision of where they hit for them. Sometimes, good penalty-takers see the goalkeeper going one way and then, they just slot it on the other side. My aim was to go when the guy touches the ball with his feet and try to go to the right side,” the Indian custodian explained.
The SAFF Championship this year was very different as it was more challenging due to the involvement of West Asian teams like Lebanon and Kuwait and also due to the involvement of the fans who have been with the team every step of the way.
When asked the same, Gurpreet was in full agreement. “Oh obviously, at least among the ones I have competed in!”
“Maybe, the 2015 edition was also very good; it was competitive. But this was even more special because of the amount of fans who turned up every single game and secondly, the competition. Having Lebanon and Kuwait accepting the invite is a big thing and it helped a lot. So, this one definitely ranks higher in terms of difficulty,” he added.
It is a big thing to win three trophies in a single season but Gurpreet does not want the team to get carried away in the celebration as they are preparing for something really big. He wants the unit to remain focused and concentrated on their goal so that they can step up during the bigger challenges that await in future.
“I don’t remember the last time the national team won three trophies in a season at home. It is very motivating. This is something we should celebrate. But also keep our focus and make sure we are preparing even harder for the bigger challenges,” the 31-year-old highlighted.
“And the challenges going forward will be tougher – the King’s Cup in Thailand, Merdeka Cup in Malaysia, the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and finally the AFC Asian Cup,” he goes on to list them out.
Lastly, he echoed Igor Stimac’s mindset of heading into any game with the same philosophy even if the opponents are better than India. Stimac wants the Blue Tigers to stick to their natural gameplay of pressing hard, being physical and also keeping the ball.
“Go with the same kind of mindset – we are going to press, we want to be physical and also we want to keep the ball. Try to dominate teams who are at par with us or better than us. In that process, you win, that’s great and if you lose, you learn something,” Gurpreet concluded.
