India vs Afghanistan Highlights: Blue Tigers bag a point, qualify for 3rd round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers

Now, these 4 extra minutes are gonna feel like 40 minutes for Indian fans! 94' A yellow card for Zamani.

"We can't even defeat Afghanistan and we talk about qualifying for the world cup. The truth is that our players are not so good also not so bad. Hire a good coach. Won do miracles but will at least win against teams like afg and ban 3-0. Sack praful patel." writes Zimam after India concede. Lot of anger among the Indian fans and they are venting out on social media. 

Afghanistan is back on level terms after a stunning strike by Zamani. The teenager whips the ball into the right corner. That is what you call a neat finish. India coach Stimac is shocked at the touchline. IND 1-1 AFG

Ashique with the ball in and Azizi gifts India a goal! An innocuous looped ball which should have been a comfortable save but India won't care. What a huge mistake by the keeper there. Craziest own goal ever. India head coach Igor Stimac is the happiest man now in the world. India lead 1-0

Liston Colaco is on for Sunil Chhetri! Chhetri did not seem pleased with the decision! the captain's armband is handed over to Sandesh. Will this move pay off Stimac. Seems like he wants more pace.

Afghanistan gives away a free-kick, Haroon Amiri was beaten by the pace of Ashique and commits the foul. Amiri gets a yellow card. Chhetri will take the kick but shoots it just over the crossbar. 

This will raise a lot of eyebrows!

Afghanistan manage to get a shot away from the edge of the area but the ball goes straight to Gurpreet. Almost an an hour gone in Doha

India have started on the front foot in the second half. Suresh and Manvir are linking well on the right flank. However, one problem for Stimac persists that there are not enough bodies in the box on the attack. Maybe Anirudh Thapa is someone who can do that.

Positive start to the second half by the Blue Tigers. Ashique steals the ball in the middle of the field & embarks on a darting run. But the Bengaluru FC winger is blocked off by the Afghan defence. 

Who will break the deadlock first?

Although India's best chance came from Glan Martins' interception higher up the field, him dropping in the back-line to make it a back-four during the buildup has been crucial to the attack. REMEMBER- Under Igor Stimac, India have not lost a game after going into half-time with the scores level (1W, 2D). Advantage. 

A quick counter from India. Suresh couldn't pass the final ball for Manvir, steaming in but the Afghan goalkeeper clutches the ball first. A chance for India after long.

Low and powerful shot from Amir Sharifi but it doesn't trouble Gurpreet who gets down early & collects.  

Sana bags a booking! Moments later, Rahul Bheke commits a silly foul and the freekick almost finds the net, but a solid defensive header from Sandesh Jhingan clears it.

Brandon Fernandes' corner delivery leads to an Afghanistan attack, but enough blue shirts at the back. The visitors making things shaky for the Indian defence as they quickly came on a counter. But Ashique turns enough to avert the danger.

Another good ball from Brandon as India bags a corner. India using counter-attack to break through, exploiting spaces onto the wings, Shooting, and winning corners Indeed a good game so far. An excellent spell of play from the Blue Tigers.

India head coach Igor Stimac gets a yellow card for challenging the referee. Seemed like he was flinging something in disgust near the touchline. He wasn't backing down even while he was getting shown the card. Quite the start to this game!

Martins feeds Chhetri who skips past one defender and lets one fly from a tight angle, but its saved. The Blue Tigers are making their presence felt early on. A couple of corners already. Sunil is testing the Afghan defence. 

A positive start from India. They win a corner in the first minute Got to love how Glan Martins just tries to take a shot on goal from anywhere on the pitch! Suresh has a very good work rate, but needs to hold the ball for longer 
 

National anthems done. Time for the action to begin. Afghanistan with their favoured 4-2-3-1 set up. Quite brave from Stimac to go with a back four. Interesting tactical set up ! Referee blows the whistle and we are away!

India needs just 1 point to qualify for the 3rd Round of the Asian Cup Qualification. Keeping this in mind, will India to play defensive or start attacking from the word go? Stay tuned as we are minutes away from live action.

Glan Martins and Brandon Fernandes make the Indian Football line-up in their last game of the WCQ against Afghanistan.

Two years from Stimac’s reign beginning, India have six points in seven games in World Cup Qualifiers’ Group E and are currently third among five teams. The team has one more game remaining, to be played on Tuesday against an Afghanistan team that held them to a 1-1 draw in the first leg.

“I need to say that I don’t know any coach or any team who would come out playing for a draw. Even that might seem to be a situation when you are facing much better sides. Then, you need to drop and defend for your life and wait for one, two or three chances to counter-attack like against Qatar. But, we are not going out to play for a draw. Rather, we will go out to win it.” 

Following their first victory of the campaign last time out, India need just a draw from their final fixture against Afghanistan on Tuesday to assure a place in the third round of the Asian Cup qualifiers. Though Igor Stimac's side are already out of contention to progress further in World Cup qualifying - as Group E doubles up as the second round of qualification for Qatar 2022 - they cannot afford to fail against their local rivals this week. Stay tuned for live updates