Afghanistan and India played out a 1-1 draw in their last match of
Group E of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Joint
Qualifier, at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday (June 15,
2021). With this result, India finish third place in the standings with seven
points from eight matches.
India took the lead via a 75th-minute own goal courtesy of
Afghanistan goalkeeper Ovays Azizi, but the Afghans pulled back their equaliser
minutes later, through their teenage sensation Hossein Zamani. A third-place
finish in Group E means that India move directly to the third round of
qualifiers for the AFC Asian Cup China 2023.
India head coach Igor Stimac made two changes to the side that
started for the Blue Tigers against Bangladesh in the previous game, with Bipin
Singh and Udanta Singh making way for Rahul Bheke and Ashique Kuruniyan.
Both the sides had a few last exchanges in added time, but the clock
soon ran down, as the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
