Photo: Collected
Sharif Mukhammad scored a late penalty to help Afghanistan beat India 2-1 in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier match at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati. Sunil Chhetri scored his 94th international goal in his 150th appearance for the Indian men's football team but Rahmat Akbari scored in the 70th minute to equalise for Afghanistan before Mukhammad scored a late penalty to spoil the Indian captain's milestone match.
Within the 37th minute of the game, Chhetri yet again proved himself as the ultimate and the only attacking answer of the Indian side. The goal came from a penalty kick awarded after Afghanistan's Haroon Amiri committed a handball violation.
Manvir received the ball on the right flank and crossed to Chhetri, but Amiri's hand was intercepted, resulting in the penalty. Sunil Chhetri confidently converted the penalty, sending the ball past Azizi despite his dive to the right, energizing the crowd at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium.
Despite the overall disappointment, Chhetri's goal against Afghanistan saw him close in on the international goal-tally of Argentinian superstar, Lionel Messi. His goal gave India the much-needed boost in this crucial tie, only for their dismal midfield setup to slip the match at the death.
India's inability to see through a game, despite grabbing a lead, deals a horror blow to their World Cup dreams yet again. India manager Igor Stimac fielded Lalengmawia Ralte, Brandon Fernandes, and Jeakson Singh in their midfield setup for the game, which turned out to be the building block of their failures in the match.
Upon grabbing the lead, India switched into a completely defensive mode, which showed a lack of eagerness from the side to extend their advantage in the match for good. Miss-passes along with rare forward passes was one of the main highlights of India's game for the majority of the second half.
It was only after the introduction of Anirudh Thapa and Lallinzuala Chhangte in the 68th minute of the game that India started to make purposeful forward runs. However, the sudden change in approach when the rest of the players were already close to the limit of their stamina, ultimately saw the side lose their lead.
This only stretches the doubts about Stimac's team decisions at such an important level for the national side. If only the changes had been made earlier in the match, or from the very beginning, things could have turned out entirely different for India.
Both the Afghanistan goals came due to massive errors from the India defenders at the very death of the game, which has rather turned into a recurring pattern. The equalizer from Rahmat Akbari came due to the defense line failing to clear a man-less ball in front of the India goal-post, which was then followed by a half-hearted blocking attempt from Rahul Bheke.
Bheke has never been a well-performing option for the side and one can say that Stimac's tendency to stick with the 33-year-old as a center-back, has ultimately led to the side's downfall. Even in this match, Stimac continued to show his leniency in exploring Jeakson Singh as a center-back option, or switching to the likes of Mehtab Singh in the place of Bheke.
After the 2-1 loss to Afghanistan, India currently lie in second place in their group with 4 points. Currently, Qatar leads the group with their perfect 9 points in their 3 matches so far.
Despite the loss, India can still qualify for the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, provided they can at least grab three points in their upcoming two games against Qatar and Kuwait. The comparatively easier tie for India comes with their clash against Kuwait on June 6.
India will also be hoping that Afghanistan will lose at least one of their 2 upcoming matches, most preferably against Kuwait on June 11. This will see India qualify for the third round as the second-placed team of their group.
Messenger/Mahbub
