India vs Afghanistan: Preview and Prediction

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Indian Football Team will be banking on Sunil Chhetri once again to score goals

The Indian Football Team will lock horns with Afghanistan in their second match of the 2023 AFC Asian Cup Third Round Qualifying at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Saturday. The match is scheduled to kick off at 08:30 PM IST. 

India is aiming to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup consecutively for the first time in history, having been knocked out from the group stage in 2019. But for that, they have to overcome the hurdle of Afghanistan.

The Blue Tigers’ opponents have never qualified for the AFC Asian Cup but are raring to break the jinx. The heat and humidity in Kolkata will trouble both India and Afghanistan but both sets of players should be familiar with it now as they have played a fixture each.   

Current Form

India head into the encounter on the back of a 2-0 victory over Cambodia courtesy of a brace from captain Sunil Chhetri. The Igor Stimac-coached side could have scored more goals in the match but they were let down by poor finishing by their forward players.

Liston Colaco was brought down inside the box by a rival defender and Chhetri stepped up to slam home the penalty in the 14th minute. Peeling off his marker, the 37-year-old nodded home the ball into the net to double the lead in the 60th minute.

India requires the victory to keep pace with Hong Kong in Group D of the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers, who have the same number of points as them. 

Afghanistan, on the other hand, lost their opening encounter by a margin of 2-1 against Hong Kong and a loss would draw curtains to their hopes of qualifying for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. The Anoush Dastgir-coached side found themselves two goals behind within the first thirty minutes but tried to rally late in the game. 

Farshad Noor made a darting run through the centre to slam the ball into the roof of the net in the 81st minute but it turned out to be a mere consolation as his side couldn’t find the equaliser. 

Head to Head Record

India and Afghanistan have squared off against each other 10 times in the past with the former gaining the upper hand on six occasions. Afghanistan has beaten India only once in the final of the 2013 SAFF Championships while the other three matches ended in a draw. 

The two teams squared off against each other in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and the result was a 1-1 draw both the times. In Afghanistan’s home leg fixture played in Tajikistan, India scored in the added minute of the second half through Seiminlen Doungel to sneak away a point from the encounter. 

In India’s home leg fixture played in Qatar, India took the lead through an own goal in the 75th minute but it got cancelled out in the 81st minute through Hossein Zamani. 

Team News

Indian Football Team players thank the fans for their support in Kolkata

Indian Football Team players thank the fans for their support in Kolkata

India has no injury concerns apart from Lalengmawia, who missed the first encounter against Cambodia as well. Sahal Abdul Samad and Udanta Singh may find their names among the starters, replacing Anirudh Thapa and Manvir Singh in the midfield and right-wing respectively. 

Afghanistan, too, has no injury concerns and is likely to make only one change to the starting line-up. Haroon Amiri is likely to foray into the playing eleven, replacing Najim Haidary owing to his vast experience playing against India. 

Predicted Starting Lineups

India (4-3-3): Gurpreet Singh Sandhu; Akash Mishra, Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Naorem Roshan Singh; Sahal Abdul Samad, Brandon Fernandes, Anirudh Thapa; Liston Colaco, Sunil Chhetri, Manvir Singh

Afghanistan (3-5-2): Ovays Azizi; Maziar Kouhyar, Haroon Amiri, David Najem; Noor Husin, Farshad Noor, Zelfy Nazary, Omid Popalzay, Sharif Mukhammad; Sandjar Ahmadi, Omran Haydary 

Prediction

India dictated the possession against Cambodia because the opposition players sat deep in their own half and allowed them to keep the ball. Afghanistan is expected to keep the ball and exploit the gap in defence and midfield. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who was largely quiet in the first fixture, will have to be on his toes. With Sunil Chhetri in the mix, you can never count out the Blue Tigers from scoring a goal. We predict the match to end in a 1-1 draw.

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