November 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/div>\nQatar, on the other hand, will be bubbling with confidence after the win. But it will be cautious to not scoff at its lower-ranked opponent, which limited it to just one goal in their previous clash, despite going down to 10 men within 17 minutes.<\/p>\n
For its head coach Carlos Queiroz, under whom the side won just thrice in 12 games so far, it will be another opportunity to further clear the air of opprobrium around his future.<\/p>\n
The aberration of being the worst-performing host in a FIFA World Cup is history now, and Queiroz will feel the pressure to change the country\u2019s football narrative as he did for Iran.<\/p>\n
His influence was evident against the Afghans, but his raison d\u2019etre, the difficult-to-penetrate lower block, has looked inexorably porous. Qatar has let in 17 goals in 10 matches, including a 0-4 thumping to his former side, Iran.<\/p>\n
Against India, with Chhetri and Chhangte in front of Sahal Abdul Samad and Naorem Mahesh Singh, the visitor\u2019s ability to nip attacks in the bud will be tested well.<\/p>\n
Almoez Ali, who became Qatar\u2019s highest goalscorer in its previous game, will be the usual suspect in the final third. The Al Duhail captain, who scored four goals against Afghanistan, is equally adroit along the flanks and can prove to be a nightmare in set-pieces, too.<\/p>\n
ALSO READ: FIFA 2026 World Cup AFC qualifiers: Stimac confident of India\u2019s preparation ahead of Kuwait\u00a0\u00a0clash<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cOne clear goal in our minds is to play great football, improve our standards and get the three points. We know the Indian national team is a very different side today. But we have also grown up, and we will look for a win,\u201d Queiroz told reporters on the eve of the match.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s clash against Qatar in 2019 saw its goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu rise to the occasion making 11 saves and holding the opponent to a goalless draw. Four years later, Stimac\u2019s boys will look to shoulder responsibilities more evenly and with discipline.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully I have less work (this time),\u201d Gurpreet said with a chuckle, \u201cMaximum points with the least work possible is a goalkeeper\u2019s dream. I want the players in front of me to enjoy, get on the scoresheet and give us the win.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Three of India\u2019s first-team regulars, Anwar Ali, Jeakson Singh and Ashique Kuruniyan are ruled out while Manvir Singh and Brandon Fernandes remain doubtful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sport-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baysidesports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}