SAFF Championship 2023: Tough challenge awaits India in match against Kuwait

Indian football team will face their most challenging test in the SAFF Championship when they face formidable Kuwait in their last league match here on TuesdayBoth India and Kuwait with six points from two wins have entered the semifinals The result of Tuesdays match at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium will decide the Group A winnerPakistan and Nepal will face each other in the other match of the day which has been rendered inconsequential as both the sides have already been eliminated from the tournament after losing their two earlier matchesPakistan lost to both India and Kuwait 40 while Nepal suffered a 31 defeat by Kuwait and 20 defeat by IndiaIndia had brushed aside Pakistan 40 but had to work hard in their 20 win over NepalAlso Read Chhetris hattrick sinks Pakistan as India begin SAFF Championships with a winThe Indian defence has been in good form having managed a clean sheet for a record eight successive matchesHowever the midfield and frontline will have to perform a notch higher against a strong side like KuwaitIndia had struggled for more than an hour to penetrate Nepal defence and Kuwait could pose even taller hurdles with a much more organised and experienced defenceIndias primary weapon for finding goals still remains the talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri who struck a hattrick against Pakistan and then opened the scoring against NepalIt was just an understatement when Sahal Abdul Samad said other players including himself need to find the target more often than not to take the burden off ChhetriIt is imperative for India to find multiple goalscorers ahead of playing against fancied opponents as they will hardly give any wriggle room for ChhetrildquoEvery aspect of the game has room for improvement Its a possession game keep the ball as much as we can and score the goals We have a fantastic player who scores goals for us Sahal had saidldquoThe coach asked us to change that and we need to start scoring Not just Sunil Chhetri bhairdquoOn the other hand Kuwait who enjoy a 21 headtohead record against India have so far dished out a very disciplined game in the tournament They were authoritative while scripting 31 and 40 victories over Nepal and Pakistan respectivelyThey would want to continue in the same vein against India despite taking time to acclimatise with the conditions here It will also put them in a good frame of mind ahead of the semifinalsldquoWe sometimes play well but our ball possession can get better Before coming here we played difficult matches with African teams said Kuwait head coach Rui BentoIt is very difficult to play in this weather because the humidity is very high But I have to congratulate our players for the previous two matchesrdquoThis is the first time India are facing Kuwait since an international friendly in November 2010 The two teams have undergone layers of transformation in the interim and they would not want to settle for anything less than a winTuesdays matchesPakistan vs Nepal 330 PMIndia vs Kuwait 730 PMWith PTI inputs