Captain Sunil Chhetri in motion through the World Cup qualifying match in opposition to Afghanistan in Guwahati on March 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar
Lower-ranked Afghanistan shocked India 2-1 as the house group suffered considered one of its most embarrassing defeats in current years regardless of talisman Sunil Chhetri’s 94th international aim in his 150th match, in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Guwahati on March 26.
In his landmark sport, Chhetri did what was anticipated of him and located the again of the online from the spot in the thirty seventh minute after Haroon Amiri dealt with the ball contained in the field in India’s dwelling leg match in the second spherical of the joint qualifiers for the World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup.
Attacking on the counter with three strikers upfront, Afghanistan equalized as Rahmat Akbari restored parity in the 71st minute after he shot from exterior the field and the ball went by means of the legs of Rahul Bheke after a deflection to make it 1-1.
Disaster struck the Indians when a charging Gurpreet Singh was proven a yellow card and Sharif Mukhammad transformed the resultant penalty (88′) to offer his group a 2-1 lead with simply two minutes left in regulation time.
Afghanistan goalkeeper Ovays Azizi guessed it proper however the 39-year-old Chhetri packed sufficient energy in his shot to beat the visiting custodian, a lot to the delight of the group that thronged the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in anticipation of a high quality efficiency kind their much-loved footballer.
After a short section of relentless end-to-end assaults, Chhetri’s strike separated the 2 groups on the half time and India held on to the lead till Rahmat Akbari equalised in the 71st minute earlier than Mukhammad’s later strike, which might finally go on to sprint Indian hopes because the guests earned three factors from the match.
Long earlier than that, Liston Colaco got here near doubling India’s lead. But he failed to manage the ball because the Afghans managed to retrieve it from him.
Right at the beginning of the match, Manvir Singh missed a simple probability to place India forward however his shot off a rebound, after a Chhetri shot rattled the woodwork, flew over the online.
India coach Igor Stimac made three substitutions and introduced Anirudh Thapa, Naorem Mahesh and Lallianzuala Chhangte in place of Brandon Fernandes, Liston Colaco and Chhetri.
But, these adjustments did little to increase India’s dominance and as a substitute, the guests discovered the equalizer. The worse was in retailer for India because the guests put one other one previous a hapless Sandhu to interrupt Indian hearts.
India and Afghanistan drew the primary leg 0-0 in Abha, Saudi Arabia on March 22.
