India gave higher ranked Iraq run for their money before losing 4-5 on penalties in the semi-finals of the King’s Cup 2023 football tournament at the 700th Anniversary Stadium, Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Thursday.

India twice took the lead but could not hold on to it and finally lost in the tie breaker

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The teams were level at 2-2 after regulation time, the match came down to penalties as there is provision for no extra time in the tournament. In the tie breaker Brandon Fernandes missed a spot kick and that made all the difference as India slumped to their seventh loss in eight meetings vs Iraq.

India surprised their hosts and Rival Iraq with gritty display and surged ahead in the 17th minute through Naorem Mahesh (1-0) however the lead lated barely 11 minutes as Ali Al-Hamadi drew parity in the 28th minute. Jalal Hassan Hachim’s own goal (51’) gave India the lead again (2-1) but Aymen Hussein equalized ten minutes before the final whistle.

India ranked 99th in the world, are without their ace striker Sunil Chhetri, who opted out of the squad due to personal reasons.

The men in blue crowded their defence to start with and looked to counter-attack. Iraq meanwhile, were on the offensive from the start.

Iraq, the highest-ranked team in the tournament at world No. 70, launched attacks in waves but the Indian defence, led by veteran centre-back Sandesh Jinghan, stayed resolute.

A quarter into the first half, the Indians took the lead when Sahal Abdul Samad made the most of the empty space behind the opposition defence and played a through ball to Naorem Mahesh, who slotted it past the Iraqi goalkeeper Jalal Hassan Hachem to give India a 1-0 lead.

Rattled by the goal Iraq went all out on the counter offensive in search of the equaliser and they drew parity via a penalty. The referee pointed to the penalty spot after Sandesh Jinghan was shown the yellow card for a handball in the box. Ali Al-Hamadi made it 1-1.

In the second session India showed much more intensity and launched several sorties into the rival defence and in the 51st minute they again took the lead after Iraqi custodian Jalal Hassan Hachem fumbled with a shot from Manvir Singh and conceded an own goal.

As the match progressed, the Iraqis regained possession and took the attack to the Indians. Ten minutes from the final whistle, Iraq drew parity from the penalty spot after Aymen Hussein was fouled in the box by the Indian defenders. Aymen Hussein hit the penalty to the right of the diving Gurpreet Sandhu to make it 2-2.

Iraq peppered the rival space with long balls in an attempt to score the winner but the Indian defence stood firm. Iraq came under pressure in the dying moments of the game after Zidane Iqbal was shown a red card. India, though, failed to make their numerical advantage count as the match headed into the dreaded penalty shootouts.

India will next play the second losing semi-finalists from the match between hosts Thailand and Lebanon in the third-place match on Sunday.

India won a bronze medal when they last played in the King’s Cup in 2019. The Men in Blue beat Thailand 1-0 to finish third after losing to Curacao in the semi-finals.