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Highlights - Seiminlen Doungel Scores Late As India Salvage Point vs Afghanistan

Seiminlen Doungel scored to negate Zelfagar Nazary strike from first half to earn a draw for Indian football team in their FIFA World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan in Dushanbe. Get highlights and analysis of the Afghanistan vs India FIFA World Cup qualifier match below.
Seiminlen Doungel of Indian football team scores against Afghanistan in their FIFA World Cup qualifier match

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).

Live blog

Afghanistan vs India: Welcome to Dushanbe!

Good Evening and welcome from Delhi! If you’re not in Delhi, you’re very very lucky, because there isn’t much welcoming here. Fortunately the Indian team aren’t. They are in Dushanbe. 

Adil, Kotal in Starting XI

If you have watched our match preview, the 420 Grams episode, you know that everyone was concerned about India’s severely depleted back line. Well, Stimac has managed to magically get one of those stalwarts fit and into the XI!! Adil Khan is starting. And so is Pritam Kotal. Now Kotal can play in the centre, but it is more likely that Rahul Bheke will be partnering Adil seeing as that has happened before in Stimac’s tenure.

Halder as Sweeper Back

More importantly. Most importantly. Pronay Halder is back and he’s stationed as the sweeper at the top of that back line.

Remember the Bangladesh Disappointment?

Two draws and one loss. Sounds like a good haul from the first three games right? Wrong. Not because of the results, well a little bit because of the results. Mostly because of who they drew against and the dull manner of their play in that draw. But no point recalling that. Let’s look forward.

Time for the National Anthems

We are all set for action. The sides are in the middle.

Good News for I-League

While we wait for kickoff there’s a good bit of news for fans of the I-League. The upcoming season of what used to be India’s national league will be broadcast on DSport, the sports channel run by the Discovery network. It seems Minerva Punjab owner Ranjit Bajaj was a key player in securing the deal. In a press release that came round earlier this evening Bajaj was quoted saying, “I am really glad that my efforts to get Dsport as the official broadcasting partners and Instat sports, a Russian based stats and analytics company to provide best production and interface experience has finally come through. The association with Dsport is going to mark a new era for football Enthusiasts in India. I am personally very glad to have Dsport as the official broadcasters for ILeague this season and it's a win win situation for us as owners of the clubs as we finally made our fans watch the matches live and for the official broadcasters who can now have commercials involved in the upcoming seasons (sic).”

Manjappada on Board

That match kicks off. It is fair to say the Afghans are making a lot of noise in the stadium. The Manjappada fans are also there. And in good numbers too. 

The three officials for today’s game are from Chinese Taipei. The Indian coach is sporting a nice looking jacket, and we have kicked off. Erm. The visibility is low.

Zippy Pitch

1’ India are passing the ball around deftly but mostly between their back line. The pitch is nice and quick. The ball is zipping.

Afghans Sit Deep

2’ Afghanistan have made clear what they plan to do. They have already played a couple of long balls and are sitting deep, asking India to commit men forward.

India Hold and Pass Around

5’ Udanta drops a cross in from the right. Its good and deep into the box. The Afghan defender takes a loose touch but is awake to Chhetri lurking and clears it away. India holding the ball a lot, and passing it around fairly deftly. Mandar brings down Omid Popalzay on the right, but the referee waves play on. Meanwhile Popalzay is off for some medical attention.

True Bounce Woes

7’ Everyone in our live booth studio is marvelling -- and also slightly worried -- at the speed at  which the ball is travelling on the surface. The bounce is truer, the skid is more real. Finally Siddhanth Aney says, “Hopefully we won’t give away a penalty!”

Brandon USP

Brandon’s biggest quality is his speed of thought. Always forward thinking as well.

-- Arjun Pandit

Loud Stadium, Jittery Moments

9’ The noise in the stadium is incredible. India have given away a cheap corner. From which Afghanistan deliver deep in, Adil clears but the follow up ball is driven in again. Gurpreet comes out and gathers. Not too long after, he is forced to come off his line again, this time after Adil’s clearance ricochets onto the path of an Afghan attacker.

Popalzay Out

10’ Popalzay the aforementioned recipient of a rough tackle went down in the India box holding his hamstring. That’s his game done no doubt. And he duly comes off.

Najem Replaces Injured Popalzay

12’ Brandon finds Pritam with a superb cross-field ball to the right. The defender can’t bring it down though. Meanwhile, Popalzay has been replaced by Adam Najem. Najem is Afghan-American and has played for the New York Red Bulls

Another Corner for Afghanistan

15’ Another corner for Afghanistan and this time there’s some trouble. The first attacker knocks it down, and then as Gurpreet rushes forward it is headed up in the air again. Adil clears.

Mandar Brings Down Najem

16’ Mandar brings down Najem near the right corner of the box. Freekick Afghanistan. Dangerous area but cleared

Afghanistan at Home in Dushanbe

Tajikistan and Afghanistan share a 1,300 kilometre border that is mostly porous. The vast majority of refugees and asylum-seekers living in Tajikistan are Afghans. The UN refugee agency estimates the number of refugees was as high as 12,000 back in the year 2000. Since then, many have either been resettled or have returned to their homeland. However, Tajikistan is also home to several thousand stateless individuals, many of whom are believed to come from across the border in Afghanistan. This is not a random history/geography lesson, but meant to explain why Afghanistan are playing in Dushanbe and so well supported tonight.

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