INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Indian men&s football team was held to a goalless draw by Afghanistan in its Group A match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers at
the Damac Club Stadium in Abha, Saudi Arabia on Friday.Courtesy the result, India, 117th in the FIFA Rankings, moved up to the second place
in Group A with four points from three matches, leapfrogging Kuwait who have three points
158 Afghanistan are bottom of the four-team group with one point, Olympics.com reported.The Indian football team has also now failed to
score in its last five outings
Manvir Singh&s winner vs Kuwait on November 16, 2023 is the last time the Indian team managed an international goal.A feisty midfield battle
ensued in the opening exchanges
While Afghanistan looked to use their pace and physicality to assert dominance, India were intent on playing a passing game.Vikram Partap
Singh, who had earned his senior national team debut in January, made the starting XI for the first time in his career and consistently
troubled the Afghanistan defence
The forward kept drifting in between the centre and the wing, often switching with Manvir Singh, which caused much confusion in the
Afghanistan ranks.As the match wore on, the Indian midfield slowly began to assert control
Lallianzuala Chhangte, prancing down the left, found an unmarked Manvir with a low cross
The latter, who had drifted inside from the right flank, sent his shot wide.Despite India&s control over the game, Afghanistan kept creating
chances of their own, especially on the counter
Mosawer Ahadi was released down the right flank before cutting in and unleashing a left-footed curler that India custodian Gurpreet Singh
Sandhu caught with both hands.Manvir had more than one opportunity to score in the first-half itself, first from a corner by Chhangte and
then from a cross whipped in by fullback Nikhil Poojary
However, both went begging as the first-half came to a close.Vikram Pratap, too, missed a few in the second-half.Twice, he was played in
behind the Afghanistan defence
While on the first occasion, the ball was just a yard too far, the 22-year-old managed to wriggle past his marker in the second opportunity,
only to make the angle too narrow for himself to take a crack at goal.Vikram&s last opportunity came just minutes ahead of the hour mark
when he managed to get into the six-yard box, unmarked, and connected a header onto a cross by Akash Mishra
The effort went inches wide.Vikram&s night, however, soon came to an end
A mistimed tackle earned him a booking, and head coach Igor Stimac took the opportunity to replace him with Brandon Fernandes.Afghanistan
kept resorting to the counter-attacks and had arguably their best scoring opportunity of the game in the 62nd minute when Rahmat Akbari&s
low cross found Omid Popalzay in the Indian box but Rahul Bheke intervened just in time to shrug the Afghanistan midfielder off the
ball.Stimac made a host of changes with a quarter of an hour left on the clock, bringing on Liston Colaco, Mahesh Naorem, and Deepak Tangri
Colaco found a lot of joy down the right, frequently sending in crosses but the Afghanistan defence managed to deal with them.Subhasish
Bose, who had earlier replaced Mishra, also managed to get a free header inside the Afghanistan box, as he nodded a Colaco corner inches
wide of the target.As the match wore into injury time, Colaco created one last opportunity, sprinting down the right flank
His low cross missed captain Sunil Chhetri but landed at Mahesh&s feet, who tried to create space for a shot but lost possession.The Afghan
men&s football team will again play India in its next match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers on March 26 in Guwahati.The post
Afghanistan and India play out goalless draw in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers first appeared on Ariana News.
