Poor refereeing robbed India of an opportunity to safe a historic entry into the third spherical of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers as Asian champions Qatar gained 2-1 due to a controversial objective on Tuesday. India have been main due to Lallianzuala Chhangte's thirty seventh minute strike however a disaster erupted when the referee dominated Youssef Ayman's 73rd minute equaliser honest regardless that the ball appeared prefer it had gone out of play. The controversial resolution modified the sport fully as Qatar scored their second objective within the eighty fifth minute by Ahmed Al-Rawi.
Earlier, the Indian staff was main 1-0 until half time and was near creating historical past, whereas within the second match of the day, Kuwait and Afghanistan have been at a goalless draw.
However a controversial objective from Ayman adopted by an Al-Rawi strike inside minutes of the second half shattered the Indian dream.
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In the meantime, Eid Al-Rashidi scored the successful objective for Kuwait within the 81st minute. Thus Qatar and Kuwait reached the second spherical.
Earlier, simply 5 days after the worldwide retirement of the nation's greatest-ever footballer, Sunil Chhetri, the 121st-ranked Indian staff didn’t have a lot probability.
However Igor Stimac's males turned the tables in spectacular vogue and appeared in excellent form after Chanchte's objective.
Chhangte, a 27-year-old winger from Lunglei in Mizoram, struck the ball exactly into the underside nook after a diagonal cross from Brandon Fernandes.
After receiving the ball, he made no mistake to dodge his marker and broke the impasse to silence the host staff's supporters on the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
It was a second of redemption of kinds for Chanchte as he scored after failing to transform two possibilities created by Brandon.
With this objective, Chanchte additionally turned the very best lively participant for India to attain eight targets.
Numerous Indian supporters additionally turned up on the floor and at instances outperformed the house crowd in cheering after Chanchte's targets.
After withstanding early assaults from Qatar, with captain and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu making some essential saves on the opening day, India, with out Chhetri for as a few years, began to pile strain on their hosts.
Mehtab Singh additionally performed his half and stored India within the contest early by blocking Ahmed Alrawi's shot on the goal-line.
As the primary half progressed, India's three forwards Rahim Ali, Chhangte and Manvir Singh, and midfielders Fernandes, Jeakson Singh and Suresh Wangjam shaped a staff of six gamers and launched steady assaults and didn’t permit the Qatar defenders to choose the ball of their half.
Within the twenty fifth minute, Jackson handed the ball to Rahim from behind the Qatar defence and Rahim bumped into the field and put the ball throughout the objective, however the cross went broad after eluding Chhangte and Manvir.
Nearly instantly, within the thirty first minute, Manvir received an opportunity and he beat the goalkeeper however his effort went broad.
Chhangte intercepted a cross within the Qatar third, performed a one-two with Brandon and handed the ball to Rahim, who was only a yard away from the cross.
Qatar's defence appeared shaky and the Indian staff took benefit of it. Chanchte scored a objective to offer the staff the lead.
Jai Gupta, after a one-two with Jackson on the left flank, performed it again to Brandon who discovered Chanchte with the right weight on the cross. The nifty winger completed it coolly on the close to publish.
The state of affairs modified fully within the second half. India have been now not utilizing their six-man press however have been content material with a mid-block.
Qatar have been seeking to work the half-space channels, and recipient of one other cut-back, Alrawi's shot was blocked once more by Mehtab.
Sahal Abdul Samad and Liston Colaco, who got here in for Fernandes and Rahim, virtually created the chance. Transferring ahead on the counter, Sahal dodged his marker and handed to Liston, however Liston was caught offside by inches.
Qatar hit again simply over quarter-hour into common time when Ayman headed house a cut-back from point-blank vary. The Indian gamers protested the choice, claiming the ball had gone out of play earlier than the objective was scored, however the referee didn’t change his resolution.
Jay created some motion down the left within the 82nd minute however a poor contact noticed the Qatar goalkeeper step in and block the ball together with his ft. Liston had an opportunity to attain from the rebound however his shot deflected earlier than it could possibly be collected.
Alrawi broke Indian hearts as soon as once more when he drove the ball from outdoors the field and beat Gurpreet to put it within the backside nook.
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