New Delhi [India]: After Sunil Chhetri's retirement, Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was on Tuesday named the captain of the Indian football team for the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Qatar.
India's senior men's team reached Doha late on Saturday night for their FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 match against Qatar at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the All India Football Federation (AIFF), head coach Igor Stimac had announced a 23-man squad to travel for the match. Apart from captain Sunil Chhetri, who retired after playing his last game for the country against Kuwait on Thursday, defenders Amey Ranawade, Lalchungnunga and Subhashish Bose did not travel to Qatar. Bose was released on his own request due to personal reasons.Stimac was quoted by AIFF as saying about Ranawade and Lalchungnunga, "I was happy to have both of them with me. We worked on different aspects of their game for the future. We had a good chat before releasing them and they Know what the parts are." He needs to improve his game for the upcoming season. I hope that both of them will use the coming time to improve and come back stronger.,
As far as the captain's armband is concerned, Stimac mentioned that it was no easy task to hand it over to Gurpreet Singh Sandhu for Tuesday's match. With 72 caps, the 32-year-old is now the most experienced and longest-serving player in the national team after Chhetri's departure.
"Gurpreet was one of our captains for the last five years along with Sunil and Sandesh (Jhingan), so naturally he is the man to take the responsibility this time," Stimac said.
India's next opponents Qatar, who have already qualified for the third round as group-toppers, have selected a largely young squad, with 21 of their 29 players below the age of 24. The two-time Asian champions were held goalless by Afghanistan.They dominated but failed to break down a tenacious Afghan defense in a match in Hofuf, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.
"We have watched the Afghanistan versus Qatar game and will work on attacking changes over the next two days, with the hope that we will start scoring goals from the chances we create," Stimac said.
India will conduct their first practice in Doha on Sunday evening at the match venue Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium before the official training session on Monday.
Result is important for Team India. If they lose against Qatar, they will be eliminated from the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers. They will be relegated to the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers for a place in the 2027 tournament in Saudi Arabia.But if India beats Qatar, they will be on top spot to qualify for the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and will get a direct berth in the AFC Asian Cup due to their superior goal difference over Afghanistan. If India draws against Qatar, they will qualify for the third round only if the match between Kuwait and Afghanistan, which will start in Kuwait City two hours after the India match, also ends in a draw. In that scenario, India would finish second in the group with six points, the same as Afghanistan, but with a better goal difference.
India's senior men's team reached Doha late on Saturday night for their FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification Round 2 match against Qatar at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Tuesday.
According to a statement from the All India Football Federation (AIFF), head coach Igor Stimac had announced a 23-man squad to travel for the match. Apart from captain Sunil Chhetri, who retired after playing his last game for the country against Kuwait on Thursday, defenders Amey Ranawade, Lalchungnunga and Subhashish Bose did not travel to Qatar. Bose was released on his own request due to personal reasons.Stimac was quoted by AIFF as saying about Ranawade and Lalchungnunga, "I was happy to have both of them with me. We worked on different aspects of their game for the future. We had a good chat before releasing them and they Know what the parts are." He needs to improve his game for the upcoming season. I hope that both of them will use the coming time to improve and come back stronger.,
As far as the captain's armband is concerned, Stimac mentioned that it was no easy task to hand it over to Gurpreet Singh Sandhu for Tuesday's match. With 72 caps, the 32-year-old is now the most experienced and longest-serving player in the national team after Chhetri's departure.
"Gurpreet was one of our captains for the last five years along with Sunil and Sandesh (Jhingan), so naturally he is the man to take the responsibility this time," Stimac said.
India's next opponents Qatar, who have already qualified for the third round as group-toppers, have selected a largely young squad, with 21 of their 29 players below the age of 24. The two-time Asian champions were held goalless by Afghanistan.They dominated but failed to break down a tenacious Afghan defense in a match in Hofuf, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.
"We have watched the Afghanistan versus Qatar game and will work on attacking changes over the next two days, with the hope that we will start scoring goals from the chances we create," Stimac said.
India will conduct their first practice in Doha on Sunday evening at the match venue Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium before the official training session on Monday.
Result is important for Team India. If they lose against Qatar, they will be eliminated from the third round of FIFA World Cup qualifiers. They will be relegated to the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers for a place in the 2027 tournament in Saudi Arabia.But if India beats Qatar, they will be on top spot to qualify for the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers and will get a direct berth in the AFC Asian Cup due to their superior goal difference over Afghanistan. If India draws against Qatar, they will qualify for the third round only if the match between Kuwait and Afghanistan, which will start in Kuwait City two hours after the India match, also ends in a draw. In that scenario, India would finish second in the group with six points, the same as Afghanistan, but with a better goal difference.
