Sandhu steals spotlight with heroics

India's goalkeeper saved an all important penalty in shootout during their thrilling win against Lebanon

Often, a goalkeeper’s efforts during regulation play are overshadowed by the heroics of the strikers. Their moment under the sun, however, comes during the penalty shootouts.

And India’s long standing guard, Gurpreet Sandhu, stole the spotlight on Saturday evening to power his team to a 4-2 win on penalties against Lebanon at the SAFF Championship semifinal after the game deadlocked 0-0 even after extra time.

The 31-year-old watched skipper Sunil Chhetri strike first. Clapping gently to acknowledge his leader’s successful attempt, Sandhu took his time to walk up in front of the goal while Lebanese captain Hassan Maatouk took his stance for a spot-kick. Maatouk fired his shot only for a diving Sandhu to deny Lebanon a goal.

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“My job is to not make pre-decided moves," said Sandhu. "If a player like him (Maatouk) sees the goalie being a bit shaky or cheating, he will put the ball inside. I had to stay put and trust my abilities,” explained Sandhu about the save that changed the course of the match. “Experience helps, so does physicality. If I was 5’4'' I wouldn't be able to save that penalty for sure,” added the 6’6'' feet goalkeeper.

“I'm lucky that we have good penalty takers and it helps to train with them. Obviously we cannot save each one of them but it makes you understand what a penalty taker is thinking.”

As many as five saves were made by Sandhu, four of them coming in the first-half of a goalless 120 minutes. “As a keeper, I make sure that it isn't too easy for the player shooting a goal to beat me.”

Speaking about the defence line supporting him throughout, with Sandesh Jhingan missing in this department, Sandhu credited the others for stepping up. “We were shaky in some moments and were missing Sandesh but credit to Mehtab (Singh) and Anwar (Ali) for taking that responsibility and making sure that we don't concede many chances on the goal,” he said.

Making the thrilling encounter more entertaining was the near capacity crowd backing the Blue Tigers every minute of the game. “Playing at home, at Kanteerava and the BFC home, in the national team jersey is always special. Another magical night with the team showing.”