Kings Cup 2023 - Overview, Winner and Result
Iraq is the winner of Kings cup 2023, defeating India in semi-finals and Thailand in finals, both match was draw with 2-2 score but Iraq secure their win in the penalties in both the matches, where Thailand secure 2nd position in this tournament and Lebanon got 3rd position after beating India by 1-0.
First Match - India vs Iraq
India vs. Iraq was the opening match of the 2023 Kings Cup tournament, where India has a FIFA ranking of 98, and Iraq has 70 rankings in FIFA.
The match started at 6 PM in the 700th Anniversary Stadium in Chiang Mai, where at the start of the 17th minute, the India Team scored the first goal against Iraq with the help of Naorem Mahesh, who found space back of the net, beating Iraq keeper(Jalal Hassan).
But in the 28th minute Iraq back to fighting after Ali Al-Hamadi scored for Iraq in Penalty and equalized the match that led to a score 1-1 in the first half.
In the second half, Iran’s keeper scored an own goal, in a cross ball by Akash Mishra in the 51st minute, which helped India to make the score-line 2-1.
Till the 80th minute of the Game, India was the favorite to win this match but made a mistake, that helped Iraq to comeback again by scoring a penalty(Aymen Hussein).
The match went to penalties and the First penalty was missed by Brandon Fernandes(India Team Player), who defeated India.
The end score was 5-4 with a penalty After that Iraq went to the finals and India went to 3rd position play-offs.
Second Match - Thailand vs Lebanon
War Elephants(Thailand national Football Team) secured their win against The Cedars(Lebanon national football team) with a score line of 2-1, It seems like the host country team is fully prepared for any challenges in this tournament Kings Cup 2023.
The first goal was the own goal by a Lebanon player ( Jihad Ayoub ) with that goal, Thailand took their lead in this game in 45+3 min.
At half-time only 1 goal was scored, that was an own goal by a Lebanon player.
in the 57th minute Lebanon equalized the match by scoring a beautiful goal, Bassel jrardi, took the credit for this goal for scoring.
In the 87th minute, Thailand took again lead in the match by the score line of 2-1, a beautiful header by Teerasil Dangda in close range to the goal-post, with the help of a cross from the Mickelson.
That was the end of the game and Thailand secured their win by 2-1 and made a place in the finals, they will face Iraq in the finals, Iraq just won their 1st match with India in a penalty after a 2-2 draw match, whereas team Lebanon will play for 3rd position play-off against India, both teams are equally strong according to FIFA ranking, where India has a ranking of 99 and Lebanon has 100 rankings.
3rd position Match : India vs Iraq
Both Teams left only one chance to make a name in this tournament, the winner of this match will be rewarded 3 positions in this tournament(Kings Cup 2023), Both teams are strong enough to beat each other.
The winner of this match was Lebanon, The Indian national football team had a hard time in this tournament by securing the last position in this tournament.
Lebanon national football team secured 3rd position in this tournament by defeating Blue Tigers (Indian nation football team) by the score line of 1-0.
Finals - Iraq vs Thailand
The host team made it to the finals and they were against a top-ranking team in this tournament, who is Iraq which has a ranking of 70, This would be a tough match for Thailand, but also for Iraq, as this is the home ground of Thailand team have had majority of audience by their side they have chances to win this match and lift the trophy of this tournament.
The match ended as a 2-2 draw and once again the Lions of Mesopotamia won the match in the penalties and lifted the trophy of King’s Cup 2023.
Thailand’s national football team plays well but is unable to defeat Iraq in the finals.