SAFF CUP 2015 Final preview: India vs Afghanistan

by Prasad bhutkar January 3, 2016

The SAFF Suzuki Cup reaches its ultimate stage on Sunday when hosts India face Afghanistan in what promises to be a mouth-watering clash.

The Men in Blue are high on confidence with a four match unbeaten run, three of those coming in the SAFF Suzuki Cup as they ended 2015 on a high. Elsewhere Afghanistan have an unbeaten streak of their own adding to that a host of goals to show having a goal difference of +10 in the group stage. A staggering five goal show against SriLanka in the semi-finals means India cannot be complacent against them

Team India will be looking towards skipper Sunil Chetri for inspiration as Mr Dependable himself laid the foundation for their win against Maldives in the semi-final. Jeje, Narayan Das, Halicharan Narzary and Rowlin Broges have grabbed the opportunity given to them by coach Stephen Constantine and are some of the handful players to watch out in the final. Young starlet Lallianzuala will be expected to come off the bench and has certainly proved to be a match winner scoring a brace against Nepal.

Afghanistan will be hoping for the crucial trio of Masih Saighani, Ahnad Hatifie and Hassan Amin to fire which could boost their chances of upsetting the hosts. Khaibar Amani and Faysal Shayeseth are the joint top scorers of the tournament, both scoring four goals each from four and three matches respectively. The duo could cause a panic in the Indian defense

The head to head record is in favour of the blue tigers winning four out of six matches played, drawing one and losing only one. Although the last time India played the Afghanistan team they were beaten by a scoreline of 2-0. It will be a tough choice to predict the winner with both attacks being relentless during the tournament. Team India need to be astute in defense as the Afghanistan attack could cause a menace. Looking forward to a cracking game