Seiminlen Doungel heads home the equaliser for Indian football team in their match against Afghanistan. Get highlights and analysis of the Afghanistan vs India FIFA World Cup qualifier match below.
Seiminlen Doungel scored in stoppage time, off a corner from Brandon Fernandes, to earn Indian football team a draw against Afghanistan in their FIFA World Cup qualifier match against Afghanistan in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, on November 15. India were unimaginative and erratic in the first half, and paid the price for it right at the stroke of half time. Afghanistan, after troubling the Indian defence thought the right flank scored via the same route. Zelfagar Nazary found the target for Afghanistan off a cross from David Najem. India did make amends in the second half even as Afghanistan defended doggedly.
There was nothing right in the first half but somehow Stimac’s substitutions, especially Farukh Choudhary and Doungel gave India the impetus to attack more in the second period. Farukh’s introduction opened the left channel for India to exploit and in that 10 minute period Doungel was on, he created enough doubt and movement to give the Afghans a headache. Not to mention he scored the equaliser. (Get highlights and analysis of the Afghanistan vs India FIFA World Cup qualifier match below).
Shoutout to our missing man this Thursday evening. Young Arjun Pandit is claiming to be down with a sore throat. What he doesn’t remember is telling us all about his “extra-curricular” plans in the buildup to the weekend. Hope you are logged on to the live blog, Pandit ji!
19’ Don’t disregard Siddhanth’s geography lesson, readers. Tajikistan lies in an active seismic belt. Severe earthquakes are common. If the camera shakes, it is normal. Also, their agriculture is dominated by potatoes, maize and rice. Which is a fantastic post game meal.
22’ As you may well have guessed there isn’t much happening in the game itself. Afghanistan have taken a bit more control. India aren’t holding as much of the ball as they did in the first fifteen minutes.
25’ Mandar and Adil do a Monty Python sketch on the right of India’s box. Omran Haydaray takes the ball away and then Mandar brings him down. From the freekick Adil clears, but the ball is headed back deep into the box and is directed towards the goal. Goes wide. Najem was there at the post but couldn’t guide it in.
India’s looking good for a win tonight, Afghanistan’s best bet is to score from a set piece.
-- Arjun Pandit
27’ India attack and despite losing the ball three times, Ashique is given an opportunity to take a shot. He does but its too high. That’s a shot on goal.
30’ The game is lacking action and so when the ball is passed back to the Afghan goalkeeper, he does a few keep ups before passing it back.
34’ Ashique gets a ball on the left, and dribbles (?), drills (?), weaves his way into the box. He has no support and the ball is eventually cleared away off his feet. Minutes later he drops a useful cross into the far post, which is half cleared. Sahal takes the clearance on the volley but only manages to hit the defender right in front of him.
35’ Some more energy in India’s play now. They are attacking with a little more bite. And they have a corner. Brandon drops it in. It’s cleared away.
39’ Speculative shot from 25 yards comes through a host of bodies and legs. Gurpreet dives to his left and saves. That was tricky. Well done.
42’ Afghanistan have another freekick on the right. This time Sahal is the one who give it away. Another tricky set piece for India. And another one on the right. All of Afghanistan’s attacks have come that way. Hasan Amin shoots to the far post, and Gurpreet half slaps, half punches it away. Afghanistan win the ball back but can’t do much.
44’ Another freekick to Afghanistan. This time for a handball by Ashique. They take it quickly but the referee calls it back. Faysal Shayesteh takes it and finds a head inside the box, but it loops up with little power into Gurpreet’s grateful arms.
45’ And well… there will be a different kind of team talk at halftime. It is David Najem -- who is set up for a neat run by his brother Adam -- who does the damage with a superb cutback from the right that Zelfagar Nazary meets perfectly to slot home. That is quite a good goal but built because of India’s mistakes in midfield. Too much space given down the right after having lost the ball cheaply in midfield.
This Dushanbe pitch definitely appears far more compact, both in terms of length and width, than the grounds India are used to playing on. The result, as we have seen from the first 45 minutes, is a really tight game with very little room for players on the ball. Looking more and more like goals in this game will come from either a bit of individual brilliance, or resulting from a set-piece inspired melee. The third option, of course, is India making defensive errors and giving the ball away in positions where they will be in trouble.
And here we are. Again. Igor Stimac has brought on Farukh to replace Mandar who was clearly struggling on India’s left side of defence. But Farukh is an attacking sub, which means Ashique drops into left back. He has played this for Bengaluru FC but its mostly makeshift.
Mission 2026: @stimac_igor is taking things one step at a time with the long-term goal in mind!#AFGIND #BackTheBlue #BlueTigers #IndianFootball #WCQ #AsianQualifiers pic.twitter.com/XAjJCidhdY
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) November 14, 2019
47’ Haroon Amiri takes heavy touch on the edge of his box, and Udanta looks to pounce, but misses the ball and brings him down.
India can take heart from the fact that they have an entire half of football yet to play and patience reaps rewards.
52’ India are passing the ball around again, but a bit mindlessly.
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