Qatar continued their winning start with the second successive win that opened up a three-point gap for Qatar at the top of the group. Carlo Queiroz’s men had brushed aside Afghanistan 8-1 in their opening match, while India came away from Kuwait with a valuable three points, winning 1-0 last week. The defeat also produced India’s first international defeat at home in 2023 and first loss in the crucial qualifiers.
Ranked 61st in the men’s team standings, Qatar dominated in every department from the word go. Moustafa Mashal, the star forward Almoez Ali and substitute winger Yousuf Abdurisag were on the target for the visiting team.
Akram Afif ran the show in the first half with being consistent threat down the left side. He missed an easy opportunity to score the goal in the opening minute but kept finding gaps in the final third.
Qatar’s opening goal came from a corner after Udanta Singh’s poor clearance at the edge of the outside box. Mustafa Mashal thumped his effort past the Indian defence to give his side a lead in the fourth minute. Qatar missed a golden opportunity inside the first two minutes when Akram Afif was found all alone six-yards out. However, he failed to convert and India survived the first real chance of the match.
Qatar’s dominance continued as they hit 10 corners inside the hour, as they continued to look to add to their ten goals scored against both Afghanistan and India.
India’s best chance of the match fell to Naroem Singh, after Suresh Wangjam found him through the middle all on his own, but the substitute dragged his effort wide of the target.
Qatar recorded eight corners in the first 35 minutes but India enjoyed some possession in the final ten minutes. Star midfielder Anirudh Thapa created the first chance with sharp dribbling skills inside the box but Apuia Ralte missed an open opportunity with an effort going wide of the net.
Wave after wave of attack continued for the visitors, including a free header from the goal scorer Meshaal, but they weren’t able to add to their tally before half-time.
With minutes until the half-time whistle, Qatar’s centre-back Boulalem Khoukhi carelessly gave the ball near his own area, but Anirirudh Thapa spurned his shot in what was India’s biggest and only chance of the half.
As with the first half, Qatar were ruthless from the off. Almoez Ali doubled Qatar’s lead inside 60 seconds of the restart after Afif’s shot fell to the striker less than a yard out, who steered the ball home for his fifth goal of the qualifiers.
Ali came close to scoring his second of the match, and Qatar’s third, when he opened up his body and curled one to the far corner from the edge of the box. Everyone was beaten but his effort clipped the top of the crossbar.
Qatar were able to score their third in the final few minutes of the match.
A cross in from the left from Mohamed Waad found Yusuf Abdurisag who was able to steer his header into the roof of the net.
Next up, India will take on Afghanistan away from home in the new year, while Qatar host Kuwait in Group A.
Palestinians fly flag in
emotional World Cup qualifier
Palestinian flags and the black-and-white keffiyeh scarf flew high in Kuwait’s Jaber Al Ahmad International Stadium as football fans vented their emotions in a World Cup qualifier yesterday. Thousands of Palestinians and their sympathisers turned out at the 60,000-seat venue for the game against Australia, Palestine’s first in front of fans since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“Palestine is in our hearts. We came to the stadium, old and young, in support,” Anfal al-Azmi, a 45-year-old Kuwaiti woman, told AFP.
Defender Harry Souttar’s 18th-minute goal was all that separated the teams in a 1-0 win for Australia where the action on the pitch was almost incidental.
It unfolded about six weeks after Palestinian Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took around 240 hostages, Israeli officials say, in an attack launched from the Gaza Strip on October 7.
“We do not care about the match. We came to deliver a message,” said Wael Youssef Labbad, 40, a Palestinian from Ashkelon.
“We, the Palestinian people, are always present with the keffiyeh and the flag.”
Palestine’s red, black, white and green flag was ubiquitous at the game – which shifted from Ramallah in the West Bank because of the war – and many fans twirled the distinctive keffiyehs as they chanted.
Others held up “Free Gaza” banners and pictures of keys, symbolising the homes lost by Palestinians during the 1948 creation of Israel.
Australia’s players will donate a portion of their match fee to humanitarian operations in Gaza, whose situation was described as “horrific” by visiting coach Graham Arnold. Not all the fans were Palestinian, with many coming from other communities in the oil-rich Gulf country.
“Kuwait and Palestine are one. Today we are guests of Palestine in their land,” said Kuwaiti Ahmed al-Anezi, 36, who was draped in the Palestinian flag and wore a keffiyeh.
“Today I and my entire family came to provide support to the Palestinian people and to consolidate the first Arab cause in the souls of my children.”
Syrian university student Yahya Shaher, 18, said: “We are here to support our brothers. We are one and victory is ours.”
In Dammam, a strong second half display saw Kuwait march to a 4-0 win over Afghanistan in Group A at the Al Ettifaq Club Stadium yesterday.
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