2007 Nehru Cup

2007 ONGC Nehru Cup

Tournament details
Host country	India
Dates	17 August – 29 August
Teams	5 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)	1 (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.

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".

2007 ONGC Nehru Cup India vs Syria

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'

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

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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'

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

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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.)

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

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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'

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

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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'

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

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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: Zyad Chaabo 4 goals: Sunil Chhetri Maher Al Sayed 3 goals: Baichung Bhutia 2 goals: Steven Dias N. P. Pradeep Hurshil Lutfullaev Ruslan Djamshidov Mohamed Al Zeno 1 goal: Mohammed Abul Hussain Teab Vathanak Chin Chum

1 goal: Hok Sotitya Keo Kasal Chan Rithy Abhishek Yadav Krishnan Nair Ajayan Talant Samsaliev Bakyt Mamatov Vadim Harchenko Ibrahim Al Hasan Aatef Jenyat Khaled Mansoor Al Baba Own goals Ali Diab (playing against Kyrgyzstan)

Man of the Match

• Steven Dias IND vs CAM
• Maher Al Sayed BAN vs SYR
• Hok Sotitya KGZ vs CAM
• Subrata Pal IND vs BAN
• Maher Al Sayed SYR vs KGZ
• Mohammed Abul Hussain BAN vs CAM
• Zyad Chaabo IND vs SYR
• Hurshil Lutfullaev BAN vs KGZ
• Mahmoud Al Amenah CAM vs SYR
• Steven Dias IND vs KGZ
• Mahesh Gawli IND vs SYR, Final

See also

• Nehru Cup
• 2009 Nehru Cup

External links

• Details at kolkatafootball.com
• Details at RSSSF
• Details at futbolplanet.de
• Details at goalzz.com
• Details at indianfootball.com