An own goal from Ovyas Azizi helped Sunil Chhetri & India earn a point against Afghanistan and secure a spot in the third round of the Asian Cup qualifications.
India versus Afghanistan ended in a 1 – 1 draw with both the teams sharing the spoils. India broke the deadlock in the 75th minute of the game after a goalkeeping error from Afghanistan goalkeeper Ovyas Azizi. A cross from the left flank by Ashique Kuruniyan was put into his own net by the keeper as he could not get a grip on the ball. The lead was canceled out just seven minutes though as substitute Hossein Zamani scored a brilliant goal from the left side of the penalty box which hit the far post and went in, giving Gurpreet Singh Sandhu no chance to save it.
# | TEAM | PLAYED | WON | DRAW | LOST | POINTS |
1 | Qatar | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 22 |
2 | Oman | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 18 |
3 | India | 8 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
4 | Afghanistan | 8 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
5 | Bangladesh | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
After playing 8 matches in the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers, India finds themselves in third spot ahead of Afghanistan and Bangladesh and below more experienced teams like Qatar and Oman. Crucially, however, by coming away with a point, they also secured their spot in the third round of the Asian Cup qualification which was India’s target set before the tournament kicked off.
Key behind India’s recent success?
Apart from Sunil Chhetri’s performances for the country, the other thing which has influenced India’s recent success is the management of Igor Stimac. Since taking charge back in 2019, we have witnessed India progress on an upward trend with a few assured performances and consistency in the squad. One of the main highlights of his career as India’s manager was the draw against reigning Asian Cup champions Qatar back in 2019. The Croatian manager has handed out opportunities to lots of budding young talents through his stint thus far, with almost twenty Indian Footballers in total and the latest one being Glan Martins of FC Goa.
[Image Credit: Indian Football Team]
Shashank Iyer