Qatar, asserting dominance all through the 90 minutes on the Kalinga Stadium, may have secured a extra substantial victory if not for a number of missed alternatives.
The visiting staff discovered the online by Moustafa Tarek Mashal (4th minute), Almeoz Ali (forty seventh), and Yusuf Adurisag (86th).
Regardless of India’s efforts to attract inspiration from their memorable 0-0 draw in opposition to the identical opponents 4 years in the past, they struggled to create scoring probabilities. Though a few alternatives arose in the direction of the top of the primary half, they had been squandered.
Igor Stimac‘s squad stays in competition to safe the second spot in Group A and qualify for the third spherical, following their earlier 1-0 victory over Kuwait in an away match on November 16.
The Indian defence was uncovered fairly early into the match as they conceded a aim within the fourth minute itself.
Off a nook, three Qatar gamers exchanged passes contained in the Indian field however not one of the residence facet defenders may contact the ball. Moustafa Tarek Mashal then despatched a low right-footed shot which beat goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, who was fielded by Igor Stimac rather than Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, all finally ends up.
Akram Afif missed three probabilities which allowed India to enter the breather only one aim down.
Afif didn’t hit the goal within the second minute with simply the Indian goalkeeper in entrance of the put up. He additionally failed to seek out the goal within the 14th, twenty second and twenty sixth minutes.
First aim scorer Mashal’s free header was saved by Amrinder.
Their backs to the wall, India tried to hit on the counter and so they received two high quality probabilities, and will have restored parity from the second.
Then, Udanta Singh and Anirudh Thapa had a pleasant one-touch neat alternate of passes however Lalengmawia Ralte didn’t direct his shot correctly from the sting of the field.
Three minutes from the break, Thapa wasted a neater probability as he had solely the Qatar goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham to beat after the ball landed on him following a defensive mistake. However Thapa in some way may solely produce a weak low shot which missed the put up by a large margin.
If the fag finish of the primary half noticed some fightback from India, Qatar nipped it within the bud by doubling the lead within the second minute of the second half (forty seventh minute of the match) with their prolific striker Almeoz Ali discovering the goal.
Ali had scored 4 objectives in Qatar’s 8-1 hammering of Afghanistan of their earlier match.
Thapa was taken off within the 63rd minute and Sahal Abdul Samad got here in his place. Simply two minutes later, Suresh Singh discovered him contained in the Qatar field with an excellent supply however Samad’s left-footed shot was extensive of the far put up.
4 minutes from regulation time, Qatar made it 3-0 (86th minute) with Yusuf Adurisag heading residence after connecting a cross from Mohammed Albayati.
India subsequent play their 2026 World Cup qualifiers match in opposition to Afghanistan on the impartial venue of Dushanbe, Tajikistan on March 21 subsequent yr.
(With PTI Inputs)
