India lost to Iraq in penalty shootout, will compete with Lebanon for bronze

The Indian team, playing without Sunil Chhetri, conceded a goal on a controversial penalty and failed to hand its higher-ranked Iraq team its first defeat. He had to face defeat in the penalty shootout in the King’s Cup on Thursday. Now India will face Lebanon in the bronze medal playoff match. The final will be played between Iraq and Thailand. In the other semi-final, Thailand defeated Lebanon 2. beat by 1. Indian team 2 till 79th minute. Iraq was ahead by 1 when the referee gave a penalty. Iraqi striker Aymen Ghadhban clashed with two defenders in the box. This penalty was not going to be made but Aimen scored on it and the score was 2. Equalized by 2.

Iraq won 5 in the shootout. Won by 4. Brendan Fernandes could not score for India. According to the tournament rules, if the score remains tied till the stipulated time, the match will go to penalty shootout as there is no provision for extra time. India performed well even without Chhetri, who was not playing in the tournament due to the birth of his child. The Indian team was ranked 99th and Iraq 70th in the FIFA rankings.

Mahesh Naorem gave India the lead in the 16th minute, which was restored by Karim Ali with a penalty in the 28th minute. India took the lead in the 51st minute on a suicide goal by Iraq captain Jalal Hasan, which was later equalized by Aymen. With this defeat, India’s winning campaign of 11 matches this year also came to an end. Before this match, India and Iraq had faced each other seven times, out of which Iraq had won six times while one match was a draw.

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