The 2011 SAFF Championship final was the final match of the 2011 SAFF Championship which took place in India on 11 December 2011. The final match took place between India and Afghanistan. India entered the final as defending champions after winning their fifth title in 2009. While for Afghanistan this was their first final. India thrashed Afghanistan 4–0 and won their sixth title
Venue It was originally scheduled to take place in Orissa, India, but was switched to New Delhi by the executive committee of the All India Football Federation on 22 September.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi was the main venue for the tournament. It is also the home stadium for the India national football team and hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games. New Delhi Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Capacity: 60,000
Route to the final India and Afghanistan started their tournament campaign by playing out a 1–1 draw. Balal Arezou's opener in the 5th minute was cancelled out by Sunil Chettri five minutes later. The hosts then went on to win back-to-back matches against Bhutan and Sri Lanka by the margins of 5–0 and 3–0 respectively. Meanwhile Afghanistan also picked up two consecutive wins against the same opponents including a 8–1 thrashing of Bhutan with striker Balal Arezou scoring four goals.
Afghanistan reached their first international final after defeating Nepal in the semi-final in extra time. Balal Arezou scored the lone goal of the match in the 101th minute. On the other hand defending champions India defeated Maldives 3–1 with the help of two goals scored by Sunil Chhetri and one goal by Syed Rahim Nabi. IndiaRoundAfghanistanOpponentResult Group stageOpponentResult1–1Match 11–15–0Match 23–13–0Match 38–1Team3210123+97321091+87310246−233003116−150Final standingTeam3210123+97321091+87310246−233003116-150OpponentResultKnockout phaseOpponentResult3–1Semi-finals1–0 a e.t
Match
Karanjit Singh Mahesh Gawli Climax Lawrence Syed Rahim Nabi Gouramangi Singh Clifford Miranda Sunil Chhetri Anthony Pereira Rocus Lamare Jeje Lalpekhlua Nirmal ChettriSubstitutes: Steven Dias Sushil Kumar Singh Lalrindika Ralte Manager: Savio Medeira Hamidullah Yousafzai Djelaludin Sharityar Ata Yamrali Zohib Islam Amiri Israfeel Kohistani Faisal Sakhizada Muqadar Qazizadah Mohammad Mashriqi Balal Arezou Ghulam Hazrat Niazi Sandjar Ahmadi Substitutes:Bashir Darman Sayed Maqsood Hashemi Manager: Mohammad Yousef Kargar
Match rules 90 minutes. 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Maximum of three substitutions.
See also 2011 SAFF Championship
References