2008 AFC Challenge Cup final

2008 AFC Challenge Cup final

Indian team celebrating their win
Event	2008 AFC Challenge Cup
India Tajikistan 4 1
Date	13 August 2008 (2008-08-13)
Venue	Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee	Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)
Attendance	10,000

The 2008 AFC Challenge Cup final was a football match that took place on 13 August 2008 at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi to determine the winner of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup. India defeated title holders Tajikistan in the final by 4–1 and qualified for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. It was the first time since 1984 that they qualified for a major tournament. Sunil Chhetri scored his first international hat-trick in this match. Indian forward Bhaichung Bhutia scored the other goal meanwhile the lone strike for the Tajiks was by Fatkhullo Fatkhulloyev.

Background

Tajikistan was playing in their second consecutive final and were the defending champions after their win over Sri Lanka in 2006. Dzhomikhon Mukhidinov scored a brace in that match to give Tajiks a resounding 4–0 win over the Lankans, while the remaining goals were scored by Khurshed Makhmudov and Numonjon Hakimov. For India it was their first appearance in a Continental final since the victory over South Korea in 1962 Asian Games final.

Venue

Due to incessant rains in Hyderabad in the days leading up to the final, the AFC changed the venue of the final and the third place play-off to the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.

New Delhi			New Delhi
			Ambedkar Stadium
			Capacity: 20,000

Route to the final

See also: 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualification and 2008 AFC Challenge Cup

India

India qualified directly to the main tournament as the hosts and did not have to play the qualifying rounds. They were placed in the Group A along with Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan national teams. Indians opened their campaign with a narrow 1–0 win over Afghanistan thanks to the stoppage time winner from Climax Lawrence. In the next match they were held to a 1–1 draw by Tajikistan. Tajik striker Yusuf Rabiev broke the deadlock in the 11th minute but goalkeeper Alisher Tuychiev scored an unfortunate own goal in the second-half to ensure the tie ended in a stalemate. The final match of the group stage was a must win against Turkmenistan in order for India to qualify to the semi-finals. Bhaichung Bhutia scored a brace helping his team secure a 2–1 win. The opponents for India in the semi-final was Myanmar and once again secured a narrow 1–0 win with Sunil Chhetri scoring the winner in 82nd minute of the match.

Tajikistan

For Tajikistan the route to the final was more difficult as they have to play the qualifying rounds in order to reach the main tournament. They were placed in the Group B for the qualifiers along with Bhutan, Brunei and the hosts for the round the Philippines. All the matches were played at Barotac Nuevo Plaza Field in Iloilo City. They defeated Bhutan 3–1 and Brunei by the score of 4–0. The match against Philippines ended in a goalless draw which meant Tajikistan topped their group in qualification stage and progressed to the main competition.

Tajikistan got placed alongside hosts India and their Central Asian neighbours Afghanistan and Turkmenistan in Group A of the main tournament. Their first game ended in a 0–0 draw with Turkmenistan, followed by a one-all draw against India. But in the final match day Tajiks demolished Afghanistan 4–0 and qualified for the semi-final. They faced North Korea in the semi-final and won by a solitary goal scored by Dzhomikhon Mukhidinov six minutes before the end of first half.

India		Round	Tajikistan
Opponent	Result	Qualifying round	Opponent	Result
Automatic qualifier	Automatic qualifier	Match 1	Bhutan	3–1
		Match 2	Philippines	0–0
		Match 3	Brunei	4–0
		Final standing	Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Tajikistan 3 2 1 0 7 1 +6 7 Philippines 3 2 1 0 4 0 +4 7 Bhutan 3 0 1 2 2 7 −5 1 Brunei 3 0 1 2 1 6 −5 1 Source: RSSSF
Opponent	Result	Group stage	Opponent	Result
Afghanistan	1–0	Match 1	Turkmenistan	0–0
Tajikistan	1–1	Match 2	India	1–1
Turkmenistan	2–1	Match 3	Afghanistan	4–0
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts India 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 7 Tajikistan 3 1 2 0 5 1 +4 5 Turkmenistan 3 1 1 1 6 2 +4 4 Afghanistan 3 0 0 3 0 10 −10 0		Final standing	Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts India 3 2 1 0 4 2 +2 7 Tajikistan 3 1 2 0 5 1 +4 5 Turkmenistan 3 1 1 1 6 2 +4 4 Afghanistan 3 0 0 3 0 10 -10 0
Opponent	Result	Knockout phase	Opponent	Result
Myanmar	1–0	Semi-finals	North Korea	1–0

Match

13 August 2008

19:00 IST

India	4–1	Tajikistan
Chhetri 9', 23', 75' Bhutia 18'	AFC	Fatkhuloev 44'

Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi

Attendance: 10,000

Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

India

Tajikistan

GK 1 Subrata Paul DF 5 Anwar Ali MF 7 Pappachen Pradeep  35' MF 8 Renedy Singh FW 11 Sunil Chhetri FW 15 Bhaichung Bhutia (c)  77' DF 17 Irungbam Surkumar Singh DF 19 Gouramangi Singh DF 20 Samir Subash Naik  39' MF 23 Steven Dias  86' MF 30 Climax Lawrence Substitutes: DF 2 Govin Singh MF 4 Krishnan Nair Ajayan DF 6 Baldeep Singh DF 12 Deepak Mondal FW 18 Sushil Kumar Singh  77' FW 21 Abhishek Yadav DF 22 Syed Rahim Nabi GK 24 Subhasish Roy Chowdhury MF 25 Clifford Miranda  86' MF 27 Mehrajuddin Wadoo  35'  43' MF 28 Bungo Thomchok Singh Manager: Bob Houghton

GK 1 Alisher Tuychiev DF 2 Daler Tukhtasunov DF 3 Naim Nasirov  62' DF 6 Davron Ergashev MF 9 Anvar Norkulov FW 11 Numonjon Hakimov  75' DF 12 Eraj Rajabov DF 17 Sokhib Suvonkulov  46' MF 18 Fatkhullo Fatkhuloev  43' FW 19 Dzhomikhon Mukhidinov MF 22 Yusuf Rabiev (c) Substitutes: MF 14 Samad Shohzukhurov  62' DF 15 Zafardzhon Zuvaydov GK 16 Mirali Murodov DF 24 Suhrob Mansurov DF 27 Isomiddin Qurvonov FW 29 Dzhakhongir Dzhalilov  75' DF 31 Eradzh Kholov GK 40 Amonsho Sodatsayrov Manager: Pulad Qadirov

Assistant referees:

• Tamam Hamdoun (Syria)
• Mohammad Jaber A. H. Dharman (Qatar)

Fourth official:

• Tayeb Shamsuzzaman (Bangladesh)

Match rules

• 90 minutes.
• 30 minutes of extra-time if necessary.
• Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
• Maximum of three substitutions.

See also

• 2008 AFC Challenge Cup