Bolstered by the return of Jeakson Singh and Anwar Ali, the Indian soccer crew will renew its quest for a maiden entry into the third spherical of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers when it faces a weakened Afghanistan right here on March 21.
With mid-field common Jeakson and centre-back Anwar again within the line-up after lengthy damage layoffs, due to which India suffered in current previous, the Blue Tigers will fancy their probabilities towards the lower-ranked opponents within the second-round preliminary joint qualification match.
However, mid-fielder Sahal Abdul Samad has been dominated out of the competition as a result of a hamstring damage he suffered in coaching on Tuesday.
With three factors and one win from two matches, India at present occupy the second place within the Group A pecking order.
Reigning Asian champions Qatar lead the standings with six factors from two wins, whereas Kuwait are second with one win. Having misplaced each their video games thus far, Afghanistan are positioned final.
India’s away win towards Kuwait has put Igor Stimac’s crew in a powerful place to progress additional within the qualification cycle, one thing the 117-ranked facet has by no means achieved.
Victories of their upcoming outings (away and residential) towards the 158-ranked Afghanistan will assist India purchase 9 factors and with Qatar anticipated to win their subsequent two matches towards Kuwait, the Blue Tigers have an actual likelihood of leaping to second place within the standings.
India defeated Kuwait (1-0) in Kuwait City of their opening match of the qualifiers, earlier than dropping to Qatar (0-3) in Bhubaneswar.
Since their first-ever assembly method again in 1949, India and Afghanistan have met repeatedly and the regional rivalry has not run its course even after the latter left SAFF in 2016.
The face-off continued within the World Cup Qualifiers, Asian Cup Qualifiers and different continental and invitational tournaments, with India having their nostril forward on most events.
Nevertheless, the Afghans have at all times been a troublesome opposition to beat, combating until the ultimate whistle.
Nobody on this Indian squad can inform about Afghanistan higher than the evergreen Sunil Chhetri, who’s going sturdy at 39 and will likely be spearheading the visiting assault alongside Manvir Singh, who discovered the online within the crew’s win towards Kuwait.
Chhetri’s report towards the neighbours is sort of spectacular, scoring 4 objectives in eight matches together with a spectacular strike from a free kick in Kolkata in 2022.
“They have progressively improved from when we met them for the first time,” mentioned Chhetri.
“The games were comfortable, but slowly and steadily, they progressed. And because of being in the same region, the rivalry also generated.
“Hence, the video games grew to become fairly shut. Both India and Afghanistan have improved within the final decade or so. Having gamers who play exterior has actually helped them,” he added.
While Chhetri stays his largest participant, Stimac ought to be no much less thrilled with the return of Jeakson and Anwar.
Jeakson has performed a pivotal function for the Blue Tigers within the final two years, and featured in 17 consecutive matches from the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers in June 2022 till the King’s Cup in Thailand final September.
His significance might be gauged by Stimac labelling him as one of many largest misses within the squad for the Asian Cup in Qatar.
What additionally makes India favourites within the sport is the absence of some key Afghanistan gamers, who’ve been at loggerheads with the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF) since accusing the game physique of indulging in corruption, together with match-fixing.
As the second spherical of qualifiers began, issues between the Afghanistan gamers and the AFF began rising.
As many as 18 gamers boycotted the qualifiers towards Kuwait and Qatar, leaving the facet with few first-team gamers for the outing towards Mongolia, whom the Lions of Khorasan defeated to progress to the second spherical.
Still, gamers equivalent to Zohib Islam Amiri, Omid Musawi and Balal Arezou will look to trigger issues for India.
Match timing: 12.30am IST (Friday).