India loses 0-1 to Qatar

India loses 0-1 to Qatar in the World Cup qualifying match with 10 men.

A 10-man India defended credibly as they suffered a 1-0 loss to Asian champion Qatar in their World Cup qualifying round match in Doha on Thursday.

Abdel Aziz scored in the 33rd minute in a match completely dominated by the Qataris. The two sides had played a goalless draw in their first leg here in September 2019.

Group leader Qatar, which has yet to lose a match, had waves of attacks with its eight to nine players in the Indian half for most of the time. Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had to make a series of saves to keep the loss margin small.

India, however, played with 10 men from the 17th minute on after defender Rahul Bheke was sent off after a second yellow card. He had previously received a yellow card in the ninth minute.

India had two good plays in the counterattack match with Manvir Singh in the thick of things both times.

India captain Sunil Chhetri, who returned to the team after recovering from the COVID-19 infection, was replaced by Udanta Singh at the restart of the second half.

A winless India remained in fourth place in Group E with three points from six games.

Igor Stimac’s men are two points behind Afghanistan (third with five points), which drew 1-1 against Bangladesh earlier in the day.

India will play Bangladesh on June 7 in their next match.

Source