FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: India go down 1-0 to Qatar
Qatar's Abdel Aziz
scored the solitary goal of the FIFA World Cup qualifier in the 33rd minute as
the Asian champions defeated 10-man India 1-0 at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium
in Doha on Thursday.
Aziz fired in a shot
with his left foot from close range to beat Gurpreet Singh as Men in blue
suffered their third defeat of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup
joint qualifiers.
Gurpreet Singh, however,
came with a superlative effort in the goal as the India shot-stopper made 9
crucial saves.
Coach Igor Stimac seems
to be happy with his boys' performance, given they did not have the ideal
buildup to the big Qatar game due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Indian football team
was down to 10 men in the 17th minute of the game as Rahul Bheke was sent off
after picking two yellow cards. It was always going to be difficult against a
team of Qatar's caliber but going down to 10 men made it even more daunting for
men in blue in the first half.
Manvir Singh also missed out on two good
chances to score for India as Gurpreet Singh was kept busy by the Qatar
attackers. India brought in Udanta Singh replacing the captain, Sunil Chhetri
in the second half.
Placed in the Group E of the qualifiers, India
now have only three points from six matches while Asian champions Qatar lead
the table with 19 points from seven games while Oman are second with 12 points
from five matches. Igor Stimac's men will take on Bangladesh and Afghanistan on
June 7 and 15, respectively, at the same venue.
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