Afghans stand in India’s way

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 14

It all boils down to this game for India. Up against Afghanistan in the joint 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers in Doha tomorrow, a bunch of things are at stake for India.

Atop the list is securing a spot in the third round of qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup. This task has been rendered a bit easier after Oman defeated the Afghans 2-1 on Friday. Now, just a draw from their final game of the second round would see India through. A defeat must be avoided at all costs if India are to finish third in their group, a requisite for a Round 3 berth. It would also be an improvement over the fifth place finish in Round 2 during the 2019 Asian Cup qualifying.

Next in the line is a personal goal. Sunil Chhetri, the heart of the 2-0 win against Bangladesh, must be rubbing his hands together at the prospect of entering the all-time top-10 goalscorers’ list. He’s just one goal short of the feat.

With his double strike against Bangladesh, the India captain eclipsed Argentina’s Lionel Messi as international football’s second-highest scorer among active players. With a hat-trick, Chhetri will equal Brazilian legend Pele’s tally. At 36, a veteran “but going on like 25” as coach Igor Stimac had put it, the evergreen Chhetri will certainly look to feed his tally of 74 goals.

Stubborn Afghans

Form and past record both swing India’s way and anything less than a win will be considered a let-down after their dominating show against neighbours Bangladesh. However, the Afghans are no pushovers — they can be stubborn at the back and fast on the break. Though 45 rungs below India in the FIFA rankings, Afghanistan could prove to be quite a handful as they showed in their last pool meeting in 2019. India had survived a scare after scoring an injury-time equaliser in a 1-1 draw. World No. 105 India will be keen to set the record straight against their No. 149-ranked opponents.

India will need other faces than Chhetri to step up. The likes of striker Manvir Singh and midfielder Brandon Fernandes must put on their scoring boots and take some burden off their captain. Had Manvir not been wasteful, the opener against Bangladesh would have arrived sooner. On the other hand, Brandon was the fulcrum as India saw 75 per cent of the ball against Bangladesh. He has provided three assists out of the five goals India have scored in the qualifying campaign so far and must kick it up a notch against Afghanistan.

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