2007 Nehru Cup

2007 ONGC Nehru Cup
Tournament details
Host country  India
Dates 17 August – 29 August
Teams (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s) (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions  India (1st title)
Runners-up  Syria
Tournament statistics
Matches played 11
Goals scored 41 (3.73 per match)
Top scorer(s) Zyad Chaabo (5 goals)

The 2007 Nehru Cup International Football Tournament also known as the ONGC Nehru Cup due to the competition's sponsorship by ONGC, was the 13th edition of the Nehru Cup a tournament organized by the All India Football Federation since 1982. It was the first Nehru Cup after a ten year break from 1997 to 2007.

The tournament was played in the round-robin league format and the final was slated for August 29 in which India defeated Syria to claim its first title. Along with the host nation India, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Syria and Kyrgyzstan also competed in the 13-day tournament at the refurbished Ambedkar Stadium, where new floodlights have been put up specially for this tournament.

The total prize money of the tournament was $100,000. The champion team takes away a prize of $40,000, the runners-up receive $20,000 while the third place team will get $10,000. The winning team of every match received $2,500.

Contents

Discussion

The Nehru Cup campaign started with an Indian 6-0 victory over the less experienced Cambodian side. India's Sunil Chhetri and Steven Dias had a great game, each of them netting twice. Baichung Bhutia had produced a wonderful performance in the match. Most of the game was played on the Cambodian side of the pitch. It was expected that India was going to take this one and they did with their second biggest recorded victory. Steven Dias was "Man of the match".

Syria started this tournament with a 2-0 victory over Bangladesh, followed by three consecutive wins over Kyrgyzstan, hosts India and Cambodia. The four wins saw Syria topping the round-roubin standings with a perfect record of 12 out of 12 points. They experienced Syrian side was led by their best goalscorers Zyad Chaabo, who scored 5 out of 14 goals for his team and Maher Al Sayed with four goals.

Hosts India, after beating Cambodia, enjoyed another win over neighbouring Bangladesh. After losing to Syira, the decisive game for the second final spot was held between the Indian team and Kyrgyzstan. India won that game 3-0 and advanced. The goals were scored by the Indian forwards Baichung Bhutia, Sunil Chhetri and Abhishek Yadav. This defeat saw the Central Asian side finishing third, while Bangladesh and Cambodia finished fourth and fifth place respectively having played a 1 all draw in their game.

The Nehru Cup final between India and Syria was held on August 29, 2007 in New Delhi. India defeated their opponents 1-0 thanks to a goal from N. P. Pradeep and won their first ever Nehru Cup trophy. The Indian team received 40,000 US-Dollar for winning this tournament.

All games of the tournament were broadcast live by Zee Sports.

Matches and Results

Group Stage

Teams in green field progress to the Final.

Team Pts Pld W D L GF GA GD
 Syria 12 4 4 0 0 14 4 +10
 India 9 4 3 0 1 12 3 +9
 Kyrgyzstan 6 4 2 0 2 8 10 −2
 Bangladesh 1 4 0 1 3 1 7 −6
 Cambodia 1 4 0 1 3 5 16 −11
August 17, 2007
18:30 IST
India  6 – 0  Cambodia Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Kamkanamge (Sri Lanka)
Pradeep  16'
Bhutia  45+2' (pen.)
Dias  72'  89'
Chhetri  82'  84'
 

August 18, 2007
19:00 IST
Bangladesh  0 – 2  Syria Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Arjunan (India)
  Al Sayed  48'
Chaabo  79'

August 19, 2007
19:00 IST
Kyrgyzstan  4 – 3  Cambodia Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Suresh (India)
Samsaliev  12'
Mamatov  17'
Djamshidov  48'
Harchenko  65'
Sotitya  34'
Rithy  40'
Chum  43'

August 20, 2007
19:00 IST
India  1 – 0  Bangladesh Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Surendra (Nepal)
Bhutia  5'  

August 21, 2007
19:00 IST
Syria  4 – 1  Kyrgyzstan Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Suresh (India)
Al Sayed  7'
Chaabo  44'
Al Zeno  70'
Al Hasan  82'
Diab  13' (o.g.)

August 22, 2007
19:00 IST
Bangladesh  1 – 1  Cambodia Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Arjunan (India)
Abul Hussain  30' Kasal  90'

August 23, 2007
19:00 IST
India  2 – 3  Syria Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Surendra (Nepal)
Chhetri  13'
Ajayan  81'
Al Baba  23'
Chaabo  45+1'  65'

August 24, 2007
19:00 IST
Bangladesh  0 – 3  Kyrgyzstan Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Suresh (India)
  Lutfullaev  28'  54'
Djamshidov  57'

August 25, 2007
19:00 IST
Cambodia  1 – 5  Syria Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Kamkanamge (Sri Lanka)
Vathanak  69' Al Zeno  25'
Chaabo  35'
Al Sayed  51'  86'
Jenyat  80'

August 26, 2007
19:00 IST
India  3 – 0  Kyrgyzstan Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Surendra (Nepal)
Bhutia  39'
Chhetri  60'
Yadav  90+3'
 

Final

August 29, 2007
18:00 IST
India  1 – 0  Syria Ambedkar Stadium, New Delhi
Referee: Surendra (Nepal)
Pradeep  44'  

Winner

 Nehru Cup 2007 Champion 

India
First title

Goalscorers

5 goals:

4 goals:

3 goals:

2 goals:

1 goal:

1 goal:

Own goals

Man of the Match

See also

External links