Football
FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: India vs Afghanistan — Match Preview, Indian team, LIVE Stream, When and where to watch
The Blue Tigers take on Afghanistan in the fights for third place in the group in FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
After a comfortable 2-0 victory against Bangladesh, The Blue Tigers only need a point to seal the third spot in Group E of the joint FIFA World Cup 2022 and AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifiers. Even though India is out of further qualifying in next year's World Cup in Qatar, a point tomorrow against Afghanistan would directly send them to the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. On the other hand, Afghanistan needs to beat India to leapfrog them and finish third in the group.
Match Preview
The Indian contingent would be booming with confidence after a dominating victory against Bangladesh, a victory which also marked the end of a 11-game winless run for India. Captain Sunil Chhetri scored a brace against the Bangla Tigers, and he will be hoping to add more goals to his tally. The last time the two teams met, India had to wait for an injury time equalizer from Seimen Doungel to take one point against Afghanistan. This time they should be looking to start strong and not leave it late like last time or like they did against Bangladesh in the previous match.
Here is what Indian team defender Sandesh Jhingan had to say about the match versus Afghanistan
Afghanistan would be a different challenge than Bangladesh, and they would be a difficult team to break down. The Afghans won't be thinking about anything but a victory tomorrow, as a win would take them higher than Indian in the group, and secure the third position for them. Afghanistan showed great resistance and fighting spirit in their 2-1 narrow loss to Oman in the previous match, and they would be approaching this match with the same mindset. They will be depending on their veteran defenders Zohib Islam Amiri and Masih Saighani to restrict India's all-time top goal scorer Sunil Chhetri.
Indian Team
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Amrinder Singh, Dheeraj Singh.
Defenders: Pritam Kotal, Rahul Bheke, Narender Gehlot, Chinglensana Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Adil Khan, Akash Mishra, Subhashish Bose.
Midfielders: Udanta Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Liston Colaco, Rowllin Borges, Glan Martins, Anirudh Thapa, Pronoy Halder, Suresh Singh, Apuia, Abdul Sahal, Yasir Md, Lallianzuala Chhangte, Bipin Singh, Ashique K.
Forwards: Manvir Singh, Sunil Chhetri, Ishan Pandita.
When to watch the match?
Match Date: 15/06/2021 Venue: Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar
Kickoff Time: 7:30 PM Indian Standard Time (IST)
Live stream, where to watch the match?
Broadcast Channels: Star Sports 2/ Star Sports 2 HD, Star Sports 1 Hindi/ Star Sports 1 Hindi HD, Star Sports 3, Star Sports 1 Tamil, Star Sports 1 Bangla, Star Sports 1 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada
LIVE Stream: Hotstar