AOPNEWS | January 3, 2016
Host country India defeated Afghanistan today 2-1 in overtime to win the 2015 SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) Suzuki Cup.
Both teams played hard as the game remained scoreless when the first half ended. In the 70th minute, Zubayr Amiri scored for Afghanistan making the game 1-0. India came back quickly and scored in the 72nd minute to make the game 1-1. The game ended in a tie and had to go into extra time. In the 10th minute of overtime, India scored again to make the game 2-1.
Afghanistan came in as the defending champions of this biennial competition. In their first game, they defeated Bangladesh 4-0, then they beat Bhutan 3-0, and finally trounced Maldives 4-1, to take on Sri Lanka in a semi-final match. In that game, they shut out Sri Lanka 5-0.
A total of 7 teams participated in this South Asian competition which had started on December 23rd and came to a close today, January 3rd. The teams were divided into 2 groups. Group A consisted of India, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Group B consisted of Afghanistan, Maldives, Bangladesh, and Bhutan. Pakistan withdrew and did not participate in this year’s competition. They were unlikely to alter the results anyway, as they had never won the competition since it was started back in 1993.
Afghanistan joined SAFF in 2005. They were runner-ups in 2011 and defeated India 2-0 in 2013 to win the competition for the first time. India is one the strongest teams in SAFF; they have won the competition a total of 7 times now. The next SAFF Championship will be held in 2017, and it will be hosted by Bangladesh.