India’s assistant coach Mahesh Gawli has tipped Anwar Ali as the future star of the national team. The Indian defender was guilty of conceding an own goal in India’s 1-1 draw against Kuwait in the final group stage match of the ongoing SAFF Championship.
However, the 22-year-old youngster made a solid comeback in the semifinal clash against Lebanon. India went on to qualify for the final with a 4-2 win on penalty shootout.
“Anwar Ali has a brilliant talent in him and he is the future star of the national team. He is very sensible, intelligent and good with both feet. He is agile and his confidence level is very high. He will be a top class defender in the future,” Gawli stated in the post-match press conference.
The youngster also took India’s second spot kick in the shootout and flummoxed Lebanon’s goalkeeper as he sent him the wrong way. Gawli also showered praise on India’s custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who made crucial saves in the penalty shootout.
“Gurpreet penalty saves were very nice (in the tie breaker). That gave us confidence and for the other players who took the penalties (later on). I think Gurpreet was very good in goal,” Gawli stated.
Gawli admitted the hosts were not at their best in the first 15 minutes of the game but bounced back strongly to dominate the game.
“In the first 15 minutes, we were a little sloppy. After that, I think we dominated the match. You see the intensity till the end of 120 minutes, it was the same. Credit to the boys, they played very well. We dominated them. I think if we had scored the goals (from the chances) we got, the score would’ve been 3-0 or 4-0,” he mentioned.
He further said: “They had a plan. In the first 15 minutes, you could see they were very fast, very quick. They were going to the wings and they had a good plan. Those 15 minutes, we (were) a little hot-headed. But our boys controlled the game [after that], we came up and we slowly got our confidence back.”
India will take on Kuwait on Tuesday in the final of the SAFF Championship at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bengaluru.
