Indian men’s football team lost 1-0 to Oman in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex Stadium in Muscat. Muhsen Al Ghassani’s only goal that came in the 33rd minute for the hosts proved to be the difference. India have three points from five games are virtually out of contention to book next round berth.
The hosts looked in command from the word go. A flurry of chances was created by the hosts in the initial stages of the match. Oman came close to taking the lead in the opening minutes after Muhsen Al Ghassani won a penalty. However, to Oman’s dismay, the shot from the spot went wide.
India after the initial nervous moments started to crawl back into the match as their first chance came in the 20th minute with Udanta Singh winning a free-kick just outside the box. Brandon Fernandes lofted the ball to India captain Sunil Chhetri who was at the far post. However, Chettri cross was intercepted by an alert Omani goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi. The blue tigers once again came close to breaking the deadlock in the 23rd minute when Nishu Kumar and Udanta showed some fine passing skills to enter the danger zone but the Omani defence cleared it away.
Things were not going well for the blue tigers as the pillars of defense Adil Khan and Pronay Halder were shown yellow cards in quick succession after desperate attempts to break the counter-attack by the Omanis. Pranoy was later replaced by Vinit Singh after some niggle.
Just when it looked that both the teams may go into the break goalless, Al Ghassani put ahead when he netted a through ball by Mohsin Al Khald to help his team break the deadlock in the 33rd minute.
India suffered another blow as their main defender Adil Khan, who was not fully match fit, had to be replaced in the 37th minute after he complained of pain. He was replaced by Anas Edathodika, who had just joined the team back after returning from his mother’s funeral. Anas was up to the task immediately after taking the field as he made some timely clearances. The blue tigers went into the break trailing 0-1.
In the second half, the Blue Tigers came out all guns blazing as they created multiple chances through crosses from the flanks.
Indian custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu had some wonderful saves, including Al Khaldi’s shot in the 64th minute. Sandhu kept the blue tigers in the even in the last ten with a one-hand effort to deflect a close range shot by Ali Al Busaidi in the 82nd minute.
Igor Stimac’s boys tried hard to earn an equaliser in the final moments of the game as a couple of chances were created. Ashique Kuruniyan tried hard to level the score as he charged down to trouble the Omani defense but the equalizer remained elusive.
