BHUBANESWAR: Just before the match, football’s English royalty former Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger stood alongside Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik and All India Football Federation president Kalyan Chaubey as the national anthems were played in the stadiums PA systems. The excitement was palpable at the Kalinga Stadium. The occasion was fitting too — an World Cup qualifier. In the middle were India, fresh from a away win against Kuwait and World Cup hosts and formidable foe Qatar.
On paper, India are not the favourites but miracles do take place on the field. Hope is what sports give. However, Tuesday, it was not to be. Though there were moments for the hosts in patches, Qatar dominated the pace, at times jogged through the game too. Though the match was not as attractive with both teams looking patchy, Qatar looked dominant to outplay India 3-0. Two early goals in the either half were enough to push the hosts back. With this win in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary joint qualification Round 2, Qatar is on top.
India were without four first-team regulars — centreback Anwar Ali (ankle injury), midfielder Jeakson Singh (shoulder injury) and winger Ashique Kuruniyan (anterior crucial ligament injury) and star forward Manvir Singh who featured in their last victory against Kuwait. It was never easy for India to hold out against high-ranked Qatar team. In fact, if not for misses they would have won with a bigger margin. It looked relatively easy to dictate the tempo of the match. However, India too had a couple of good chances, the best was when Anirudh Thapa wasted a chance three minutes from the break.
Qatar went all out from the beginning and took an early lead. Goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, who was fielded in place of regular Gurpreet Singh, did not seem too confident in the beginning and was the culprit of at least three miss-passes that could have cost India dear. The first goal was scored by Moustafa Mashal after the ball was lost in the milee of Indian defenders. Masahl pounced on it and fired a grounder in the corner. Amarinder too came to India’s rescue with some good lusty saved. Qatar kept marauding Indian defence, however, their forwards looked jaded and lacking in intent.
The second half began like the first and the visitors scored in the first few minutes. Akram Afif, who created several scoring chances for Qatar during the first-half, tried to blast past Amrinder but was half-saved. Almoez Ali pounced on the spill and doubled the lead. In the 86th minute, Yusuf Abdurisag, with a brilliant header, took the match away from India.
CM inaugurates academy
Meanwhile, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik, along with Chief of Global Football Development at FIFA, Arsene Wenger, inaugurated the AIFF-FIFA Talent Academy on Tuesday.