India loses their FIFA World Cup qualifying match against Asian champions Qatar 0–3.
BH8BANESWAR: In their second match of the 2026 FIFA World Cup second round qualifiers here on Tuesday, India put on a resolute display but lost 0-3 to dominant Asian champions Qatar.
Had Qatar not missed a number of opportunities while leading the entire ninety minutes at the Kalinga Stadium, they would have won by a larger margin.
Yusuf Adurisag (86th), Almeoz Ali (47th), and Moustafa Tarek Mashal (4th) scored for the visiting team.
India, who were hoping to replicate their historic 0-0 draw with the same opponents four years prior, struggled to generate scoring opportunities.
At the tail end of the first half, they did have a few opportunities, but they squandered them.
After a 1-0 victory over Kuwait on November 16, Igor Stimac’s team is still in the running to place second in Group A and make it to the third round for the first time. The Indian defense gave up a goal as early as the fourth minute of the game, leaving them vulnerable.
Three players from Qatar exchanged passes inside the Indian box following a corner, but none of the defenders from the home team were able to touch the ball.
Then, Moustafa Tarek Mashal beat goalkeeper Amrinder Singh, who had been brought on by Igor Stimac to replace Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, with a low right-footed shot.
Three missed opportunities by Akram Afif meant that India was down just one goal at the half. In the second minute, Afif had only the Indian goalkeeper in front of the post when he missed the target. At the 14th, 22nd, and 26th minutes, he was unable to find the target as well.
With their backs to the wall, India attempted to counter and was awarded two excellent opportunities, the second of which could have brought the score back to even.
After a lovely one-touch pass exchange between Udanta Singh and Anirudh Thapa, Lalengmawia Ralte misdirected his attempt from the edge of the box.
After a defensive blunder, the ball landed on Thapa three minutes before halftime, giving him an easier opportunity to beat Meshaal Barsham of Qatar.
However, Thapa was only able to muster a feeble low shot that narrowly missed the post.
If India managed to mount a comeback towards the end of the first half, Qatar quickly put an end to it. Their striker Almeoz Ali doubled the lead in the second half, which ended in the 47th minute of play.
In Qatar’s 8-1 thumping of Afghanistan in their prior encounter, Ali had netted four goals.
In the sixty-third minute, Thapa was substituted by Sahal Abdul Samad.
Two minutes later, Samad’s left-footed effort missed the far post after Suresh Singh’s excellent delivery placed him inside the Qatar box.
In the 86th minute, Yusuf Adurisag of Qatar made it 3-0 with a header from Mohammed Albayati, four minutes remaining in regulation time.
On March 21 of the following year, India will play Afghanistan in a neutral location in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, as part of their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.
