Watch: Pakan goalie Saqib Hanif’s blunder helps Sunil Chhetri put India in front at the SAFF Championship

Pakan goalkeeper Saqib Hanif made a costly error as Indian captain Sunil Chhetri took full advantage to hand India a 1-0 advantage at the SAFF Championship on Wednesday.
The incident took place in the 10th minute of the match as Hanif miss-kicked on the edge of the box while trying a routine clearance and completely missed the ball. Chhetri who was hovering around the area pounced and rolled the ball into the empty net.
Chhetri put India 2-0 up in a matter of minutes as Pakan conceded a penalty in the 16th minute.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t the first time that Hanif has made such an error. Just four days ago, against Djibouti, Hanif made an equally embarassing howler after he strayed outside the penalty box, missed the ball completely and gifted their opponents an easy chance to score. It was a similar story today, as he once again missed the ball while attempting to clear it from just outside the box.

Easy. 1-0.
Chhetri scoressssssssssssss!#INDvPAKonFanCode #SAFFChampionship2023 pic.twitter.com/U76DqLunaO
— FanCode (@FanCode) June 21, 2023
Earlier, more than half of the Pakan side arrived in India only six hours ahead of the tie on Wednesday due to unavailability of tickets on a single flight.
The bizarre chain of events was set off after the Pakan team arrived in Mumbai from Mauritius at 1:00 am on Wednesday morning.
The Pakan squad comprising 32 members — players and coaching staff — could not find seats in a single aircraft and was forced to split into two groups.
The first set boarded a 4:00 am flight to Bengaluru, but the second lot took a 9.15 am flight due to some issues pertaining to immigration clearance at the Mumbai airport.
The second batch reached their team hotel close to the Kanteerava Stadium only past 1:00 pm, barely six hours ahead of the kickoff.
After this match, Pakan will face Kuwait on June 24 and Nepal on June 27 in the SAFF Championship.
This is also the first football match between India and Pakan since September 2018. On that day, India had defeated the neighbours 3-1 in the semifinal of the SAFF tournament.