SAFF Championship: Proud of the team’s grit and determination, says Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet

Proud coach: Gurpreet’s stellar performance in the match and the penalties took Stimac’s
India to the final.
| Photo Credit: K. MURALI KUMAR

Time and again, players and coaches of the Indian football team have stressed that the Blue Tigers’ stellar run of form was down to the collective and not the individual.

But grand occasions invite grand performances, where a certain player goes that extra mile to stand apart. Against Lebanon in the 2023 SAFF Championship semifinal, the night belonged to Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.

The 31-year-old made five crucial saves, one of which came in the penalty shootout, where he thwarted the spot-kick from Lebanon skipper Hassan Maatouk. Four came in the first half, including a stop in the eighth minute to keep out Zein Al Abdine Farran in a one-on-one situation and another to tip Maatouk over the bar from a freekick.

“Playing at home, at Kanteerava, in national team jersey is always special,” Gurpreet said after the match. “Another magical night where the team showed resilience.”

On Saturday, Sandhu had to deal with pressure on multiple fronts. First, he shared the collective leadership responsibility with fellow seniors in the absence of coach Stimac. He also had to marshal his defence without the familiar face of Sandesh Jhingan – with whom he shares excellent communication.

“We were shaky in some moments because we were missing Sandesh, but again, credit to Mehtab [Singh] and Anwar [Ali] for making sure we didn’t concede. This team is doing well, and the amount of work we have put in the last five to six weeks is showing. Not in technical or tactical terms, because that is something the coaches will decide. But the grit, the determination and the fight are something I am really proud of,” added Gurpreet.

Penalty shootouts in high-pressure knockout matches are tricky for goalies, no matter how experienced. A lot of them keep notes, based on the shooting tendencies of opponent players. For Gurpreet, it mostly boils down to experience and the work he puts in during training.

“I am lucky that in our team we have such good penalty-takers and I get to train against them. It also helps me when opportunities like this [Lebanon shootout] come. You can’t save all [penalties], but it helps you to know what the penalty-taker is thinking.

“The No. 10 may try to trick you; maybe a centre-back or a centre-forward will decide to shoot one way. Experience helps; physicality helps. If I was 5’4”, I wouldn’t have been able to save that [Maatouk’s] penalty.”