Doha: Poor refereeing robbed India of a chance to ensure a historic entry into the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers as Asian champions Qatar ran out 2-1 winners on the back of a controversial goal here on Tuesday.
India were ahead through Lallianzuala Changte's goal in the 37th minute, but trouble struck when the referee ruled Youssef Aymen's goal in the 73rd minute was disallowed as the ball had gone out of play.
The controversial decision turned the game on its head as Qatar scored their second goal in the 85th minute through Ahmed Al-Rawi. It came as the Indians came close to creating history after leading 1-0 at half-time. In the second match, Kuwait and Afghanistan were goalless.
But the Indian dream was shattered by Aymen's controversial goal and Al-Rawi's strike within a few minutes of the second half.Meanwhile, Eid Al-Rashidi scored the winning goal for Kuwait in the 81st minute. Qatar and Kuwait thus advanced to the second round. Earlier, playing barely five days after the international retirement of the country's greatest footballer, Sunil Chhetri, many people did not give a chance to the 121st-ranked Indian team.
But Igor Stimac's players brilliantly turned the tables and looked to be on the right track after Changte's strike.
Chhangte, a 27-year-old winger from Lunglei, Mizoram, fired the ball into the bottom corner after a diagonal pass from Brandon Fernandes.After receiving the ball, he made no mistake in beating his marker and breaking the deadlock to silence the fanatical hosts' supporters at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
It was redemption of sorts for Chhangte as he found the back of the net after failing to capitalize on two chances created by Brandon.
The strike also made Chhangte India's highest-scoring active player with eight goals. Indian supporters also turned up at the venue in large numbers and at times outperformed the home crowd when it came to cheering Chhangte after his strike. Did.
When captain of the day and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made some crucial saves after facing the initial wave of Qatar attacks, India started to put pressure on their hosts after several years without Chhetri.Mahtab Singh also played his part and kept India in the lead early on by making a goal-line block on Ahmed Alrawi's shot. As the first half progressed, India's three forwards, Rahim Ali, Changte and Manvir Singh, midfielder Fernandes , together with Jackson Singh and Suresh Wangjam, formed a six-man press which launched attacks in waves and allowed Qatar's defenders no ground. Collect the ball in your own half.
Jackson played Rahim in behind the Qatar defense in the 25th minute and the latter burst into the box and fired it powerfully and low across goal, but the cross was deflected past Chhangte and Manvir.
Almost immediately, in the 31st minute, Manvir was played in and had a chance to beat just the keeper, but his effort went wide.Chhangte intercepted a pass in Qatar's third, played a one-two with Brandon and passed it to Rahim, who was only a yard away from the pass.
Qatar's defense looked weak and the Indians were there to take advantage of this. Chhangte opened the scoring.
Jay Gupta followed a one-two with Jackson on the left flank and played it back to Brandon, who found the right weight on his through pass to Changte. The nifty winger finished it coolly at the near post.The momentum completely changed in the second half. India were no longer employing their six-man press as they were satisfied with the middle-bloc instead.
Qatar were looking to work the half-space channels, and Alrawi, the recipient of the second cut-back, had his shot blocked again by Mehtab.
Sahal Abdul Samad and Liston Colaco, who replaced Fernandes and Rahim, almost created that chance. Moving forward on the counter, Sahal pushed his marker forward and set up Liston, but the latter missed by just inches.Qatar struck back with a little over 15 minutes remaining, as Ayman converted a cut-back from point-blank range. The Indian players strongly protested against this decision and claimed that the ball was out of play before the goal was scored, but the referee did not budge.
Jay created some movement down the left in the 82nd, but a poor touch meant the Qatar keeper stepped out and cleared it with his feet. Liston had a chance to score from the rebound, but his shot deflected before it could be collected.
Alrawi once again broke Indians' hearts when he fired the ball past Gurpreet from outside the box and into the bottom corner.
India were ahead through Lallianzuala Changte's goal in the 37th minute, but trouble struck when the referee ruled Youssef Aymen's goal in the 73rd minute was disallowed as the ball had gone out of play.
The controversial decision turned the game on its head as Qatar scored their second goal in the 85th minute through Ahmed Al-Rawi. It came as the Indians came close to creating history after leading 1-0 at half-time. In the second match, Kuwait and Afghanistan were goalless.
But the Indian dream was shattered by Aymen's controversial goal and Al-Rawi's strike within a few minutes of the second half.Meanwhile, Eid Al-Rashidi scored the winning goal for Kuwait in the 81st minute. Qatar and Kuwait thus advanced to the second round. Earlier, playing barely five days after the international retirement of the country's greatest footballer, Sunil Chhetri, many people did not give a chance to the 121st-ranked Indian team.
But Igor Stimac's players brilliantly turned the tables and looked to be on the right track after Changte's strike.
Chhangte, a 27-year-old winger from Lunglei, Mizoram, fired the ball into the bottom corner after a diagonal pass from Brandon Fernandes.After receiving the ball, he made no mistake in beating his marker and breaking the deadlock to silence the fanatical hosts' supporters at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
It was redemption of sorts for Chhangte as he found the back of the net after failing to capitalize on two chances created by Brandon.
The strike also made Chhangte India's highest-scoring active player with eight goals. Indian supporters also turned up at the venue in large numbers and at times outperformed the home crowd when it came to cheering Chhangte after his strike. Did.
When captain of the day and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu made some crucial saves after facing the initial wave of Qatar attacks, India started to put pressure on their hosts after several years without Chhetri.Mahtab Singh also played his part and kept India in the lead early on by making a goal-line block on Ahmed Alrawi's shot. As the first half progressed, India's three forwards, Rahim Ali, Changte and Manvir Singh, midfielder Fernandes , together with Jackson Singh and Suresh Wangjam, formed a six-man press which launched attacks in waves and allowed Qatar's defenders no ground. Collect the ball in your own half.
Jackson played Rahim in behind the Qatar defense in the 25th minute and the latter burst into the box and fired it powerfully and low across goal, but the cross was deflected past Chhangte and Manvir.
Almost immediately, in the 31st minute, Manvir was played in and had a chance to beat just the keeper, but his effort went wide.Chhangte intercepted a pass in Qatar's third, played a one-two with Brandon and passed it to Rahim, who was only a yard away from the pass.
Qatar's defense looked weak and the Indians were there to take advantage of this. Chhangte opened the scoring.
Jay Gupta followed a one-two with Jackson on the left flank and played it back to Brandon, who found the right weight on his through pass to Changte. The nifty winger finished it coolly at the near post.The momentum completely changed in the second half. India were no longer employing their six-man press as they were satisfied with the middle-bloc instead.
Qatar were looking to work the half-space channels, and Alrawi, the recipient of the second cut-back, had his shot blocked again by Mehtab.
Sahal Abdul Samad and Liston Colaco, who replaced Fernandes and Rahim, almost created that chance. Moving forward on the counter, Sahal pushed his marker forward and set up Liston, but the latter missed by just inches.Qatar struck back with a little over 15 minutes remaining, as Ayman converted a cut-back from point-blank range. The Indian players strongly protested against this decision and claimed that the ball was out of play before the goal was scored, but the referee did not budge.
Jay created some movement down the left in the 82nd, but a poor touch meant the Qatar keeper stepped out and cleared it with his feet. Liston had a chance to score from the rebound, but his shot deflected before it could be collected.
Alrawi once again broke Indians' hearts when he fired the ball past Gurpreet from outside the box and into the bottom corner.
