[Sports] India finish third in Qualifiers Group E after Afghanistan draw

[Mr.Talha]

 

India and Afghanistan played out a 1-1 draw in their last match of Group E of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Joint Qualifier, at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday. With this result, India finished third in the standings with seven points from eight matches.

India took the lead via a 75th-minute own goal courtesy of Afghanistan goalkeeper Ovays Azizi, but the Afghans pulled back their equaliser minutes later, through their teenage sensation Hossein Zamani. A third-place finish in Group E means that India move directly to the third round of qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023.

India head coach Igor Stimac made two changes to the side that started for the Blue Tigers against Bangladesh in the previous game, with Bipin Singh and Udanta Singh making way for Rahul Bheke and Ashique Kuruniyan.

The Blue Tigers got out off the blocks well right from kick-off as Manvir Singh soared up the right flank, made his way into the Afghanistan box and pulled the trigger. However, his shot was parried out for a corner by Afghan goalkeeper Ovays Azizi. The resulting corner by Brandon was cleared, but it fell kindly to Glan Martins on the edge of the area, whose shot was eventually blocked.

Afghanistan also attempted to create their chances in the opening exchanges as David Ahmed Najem found some space on the right and whipped in a few crosses, but India custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was alert to the danger and came out to collect.

India started to grow into the game soon enough with Glan Martins was putting in a lot of hard work in the middle of the park. Brandon Fernandes was his usual self throughout the first 45 minutes, threading his passes to the attacking options again and again. A free-kick in the middle of the park around the 20th minute turned into a chance when Brandon chipped it towards Chhetri inside the box, but Masih Saighani was alert to the danger and cleared the ball.

 

Five minutes later, Ashique managed to beat Amiri down the left flank and dashed into the box, before attempting a grounded cutback aimed at Chhetri. Saighani was once again up to the task and intercepted the ball before any damage could be inflicted. Afghanistan too started building up a bit of momentum and earned another free-kick in the Indian third of the pitch, a few minutes later. Popalazay floated the ball in towards Amiri, but Jhingan was on hand to get in the way and avert the danger.