The Indian national team is all set to face Qatar, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in the 2022 FIFA World Cup and 2023 AFC Asian Cup joint qualification matches this month.
Igor Stimac’s side are currently placed fourth in Group E with three points from five matches. Qatar top the table with 16 points while Oman are hot on their heels with 12. India are nearly out of contention for the top two spots but a third-place finish is well within the reach of the Blue Tigers. That will book them a direct berth in the third round for the 2023 Asian Cup Qualifiers.
In this thread, we shall be covering all three qualification matches between 3rd June to June 15th. Join in the discussion and share your views on the various matches and anything in between
Skipper Sunil Chhetri makes his return as head coach Igor Stimac named a 28-man provisional squad for India’s upcoming 2022 World Cup qualifiers which will be held in Qatar.
After traveling to Doha in mid May, the Indian national team had sought to play a practice game against the Philippines. However, the fixture required a clearance from the Health Ministry of Qatar. The team had sent a letter to the concerned authority but could not get the required green light for the fixture to go ahead.
India, earlier in March, played friendlies against against Oman and UAE in Dubai that ended in a 1-1 draw and 6-0 defeat respectively.
The Star Sports network will telecast the game on TV. The broadcast will start live at 10:30pm Indian Standard Time on 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 Telugu, Star Sports 1 Kannada, Star Sports 1 Bangla
Igor Stimac has overseen a poor spell in charge of the Indian side with one win in his 12 matches. They are winless in qualification in a low-scoring campaign whereby there has been just eight goals in their five matches so far.
Qatar are unbeaten with five wins and a draw in six matches that has seen them score nearly three goals per game. Obviously, they are already qualified for the World Cup as hosts but they will still come into this as the comfortable favourites.
There are plenty of opportunities for India to qualify for the Asian Cup even if they fail to finish 3rd or even 4th. It’s the matter of easing up the process with good results in the remaining games.
Each one of our players understand what it means to have Sunil Chetri back in the team and on the pitch with them.
They will go out with more courage with him around. It’s a great pleasure working with him. I will try everything in my abilities to keep him playing as long as possible. He trains in every training session as if he is 25 and plays as if he is 25. He is scoring goals and I am happy that he can encourage our players.
India’s Rahul Bheke SENT OFF. It looked like an unintentional handball, but the Indian has been shown his second yellow of the night. India down to 10 men with just over 70 minutes left to play.
MATCHDAY 
India 
Vs 
Qatar
yesterday, on the eve of the clash against Qatar 
There are plenty of opportunities for 
have arrived…
Here’s Qatar 
