Writer : Manav Chowdhury
After a comfortable 2-0 victory over Cambodia where the Captain Sunil Chettri scored two goals. He once again helped the team to get three points. Following their first victory of the campaign ,the Blue Tigers will face Afghanistan who are ranked 150th in the FIFA Ranking.
Igor Stimac’s side are already high on confidence after the win over lower ranked side Cambodia . Afghanistan lost their opening match of the qualifiers 1-2 to Hong Kong , which was a huge setback for their objective to put pressure on other teams.
Blue Tigers next opponent is tough and is a far more organised composition than the Cambodian side. Having said that anything less than a win for Afghanistan would force them to get eliminated from the qualifiers.
Head to Head –
The Indian Football team has faced Afghanistan in 15 head-to-head competition, with Blue Tigers winning 9 times. 1 match won by Afghans, while 5 others resulted in draw. Blue Tigers have bagged 33 goals, while Lions of Khorasan have 8.
Last time both teams faced each other in world cup qualifiers where the match ended in a 1-1 stalemate.
Players to Watch Out:
Suresh Singh Wangjam(India)
After a brilliant performance against Cambodia fans will definitely expect Suresh to continue his performance against Afghanistan. The Afghans definitely will make plans for Suresh as he is the engine of the midfield for the Blue Tigers.
Sharif Mukhammad(Afghanistan)
The central midfielder knows the Indian team and the Indian conditions very well. He is well aware of the weakness and strength of the Indian team. He is not only a player but a leader in the Afghanistan team, he will definitely be a player that Indian team should look out for.
Predicted Line-ups:
India- Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (GK),Pritam Kotal,Sandesh Jinghan,Anwar Ali, Aakash Mishra,Anirudh Thapa,Brandon Fernandes,Sahal Abdul Samad,Liston Colaco,Manvir Singh,Sunil Chhetri.
Afghanistan – Ovays Azizi(GK),Masih Saighani,Zohib Amiri,Sarif Mukhammed,David Najem,Abdul Najem,Husin Alizada,Zubayer Amiri,Farshad Noor,Faisal Shayesteh,Amiruddin Sharifi.
Telecast:
The match will be telecasted on Star Sports and Hotstar ,the match will kick off at 8:30 pm on 11th June at Salt Lake Stadium Kolkata.
