India's dream of reaching into the FIFA World Cup 2026 came to a halt after the Blue Tigers went down to Qatar by 2-1 in their last match of the second-round qualifiers in Doha on Tuesday.
The Blue Tigers have missed out on processing into the third round by a whisker despite being in the best position to create history against Qatar. A controversial equaliser from Qatar came in the final 15 minutes of the regulation time when India were 1-0 up and dreaming.
The AFC Asian Cup champions found another goal to bury India's hopes of processing in the next round of the Qualifiers.
India came into this fixture with five points to their name from five matches. They needed a win and upset the Asian giants to ensure themselves a place in the third round, a round that India have never reached in their history.
The charge towards the dream win began when Lallianzuala Chhangte found the opening for the Blue Tigers in the 37th minute. He became the first Indian to score a goal against Qatar from open play in their fourth meeting in the sport. India went 1-0 up in the halftime.
They did not attack as much as they did in the opening half but a late controversial equaliser haunted them. Indian captain and goalkeeper Gurpreet saved a header from Yousef Aymen and the ball seemingly went out of play. But the Qatari players pulled the ball back and Aymen netted the ball inside the goal to get the equaliser. The Indians protested but there was no VAR and the goal stood.
10 minutes later Alrawi scored to put Qatar 2-1 up with a curl from the edge of the Indian box that evaded Gurpreet.
India would have qualified if the match ended in a draw and also Afghanistan vs Kuwait game ended in a draw but Kuwait found a late 81st minute goal. With this, Qatar and Kuwait have reached into the third round of the Qualifiers, a place from where there is a direct entry into the FIFA World Cup 2026.
