Kolkata : India produced a dramatic 1-2 victory against Afghanistan in their second match of Group D in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers 2023 at the VYBK Stadium on Saturday, with Sunil Chhetri and Sahal Abdul Samad scoring for the country in the 86th and 90+2nd minute respectively.
The match started at a very high tempo as both Afghanistan and India tried to press high up the pitch and stamp their authority on the match. There was no room to breathe in the middle of the park and it was the case during the entirety of the match.
The first significant action came in the 6th minute when Manvir Singh got past a couple of players and made his way into the box but a brilliant tackle stopped the forward in his tracks. India piled on the pressure, earning multiple corners in the opening 10 minutes but Afghanistan was able to defend them.
In the 12th minute, Liston Colaco got the opportunity to take a shot at a goal from a free kick but his effort was way off-target. The first big opportunity came right after the 15-minute mark when Jeakson Singh got on the end of an inswinging delivery from a corner kick but he could not guide the ball on target from the near post. In the 20thminute, Afghanistan got their first chance of the match to threaten the Indian goal. A wonderful diagonal ball found Kouhyar on the left but the danger was defused by a brilliant tackle from Suresh Singh Wangjam.
In the 23rd minute, tempers started to flare as Ashique Kuruniyan brought down Afghanistan skipper Farshad Noor but it was the latter retaliation which resulted in him getting booked by the referee. After that, things again cooled down as India controlled the match with more possession of the ball, and more chances but unfortunately for the Blue Tigers, they could not convert any of the chances.
Right before the interval though, Chhetri came closest to opening the scoring. Manvir Singh put in a cross from the right, Chhetri was able to chest it down, chip it over Afghan defender Haroon Amiri inside the box and attempted a scissor kick but unfortunately, he was not able to connect it as well as he would have liked to, Another major concern was when it looked like Sandesh Jhingan injured his calf. However, the Indian defender soldiered on as he came back onto the pitch.