India set to drop three places in FIFA Rankings after loss to Lebanon

Lebanon finishes third in King's Cup 2023

Lebanon defeated India 1-0 in the 2023 King's Cup final at the 700th Anniversary of Chiang Mai stadium in Thailand to finish third. The game's lone goal was scored by Lebanon's Kassem El Zein acrobatic bicycle-kick in  a corner rebound in the 77th minute. After the game, Indian captain Sandesh Jhingan raised claims of offside, but the officials denied them.

The game got off to a stronger start for Lebanon, who controlled the ball for the majority of the first 30 minutes without creating any clear-cut chances. After that, India began to play more actively and soon began to get half-chances at the opposite end. Manvir Singh sent a nice header over the crossbar, and Lallianzuala Chhangte came close to scoring inside the box before El Zein sprinted in with a last-second challenge.

The Blue Tigers kept pushing forward in the stoppage time, Chhangte curled a fantastic ball towards the far post, giving India a great chance to level but both Rohit Kumar and KP Rahul failed to make a clean connection, and couldn't make up to the empty goal.

Lebanon, who had failed to defeat India in their previous two encounters in Bhubaneswar and Bangalore, triumphed on their third attempt despite intense pressure from the Blue Tigers, particularly in the last minutes of before the stoppage time.

Latest FIFA Rankings updates

India really lost some points in the most recent update to the FIFA World Rankings points system as a result of losing the game. The Blue Tigers have lost around (- 5.09), and the final points is now 1204.88. Lebanon, on the other hand, naturally increased their score as a result of their snug victory over the Blue Tigers, earning (+5.09) points. The final points for Lebanon is currently 1205.56.

After the match went down in Lebanon's favour the final rankings that stands as of now is, Lebanon is in 101 with addition of (+ 1) in their rankings after the match and India on the other hand stands in 102 with losing down (- 3) from their rankings.

The Blue Tigers, who put in a lot of effort and fought valiantly against Lebanon and Iraq, will, however, be disappointed with this outcome. Igor Stimac will most likely try to persuade his team to win the upcoming matches that lays ahead because it can add some more worthwhile FIFA points and possibly affect their chances of climbing the FIFA rankings ladder in the update that's coming next.