Sahal Abdul Samad played a super product to bring home the goal in injury time to help India beat Afghanistan 2-1 and keep the opportunity to attend the AFC Asian Cup.
The second match of the final qualifying round saw all three goals come in the final five minutes as India triumphed thanks to a fine goal from Samad in stoppage time as the game seemed to be going in the end. peace.
Sunil Chhetri put India ahead in the 86th minute by firing a spectacular free-kick but the Afghan equalized two minutes later from a corner thanks to a Zubayr Amiri header.
Samad, who replaced Chhetri in the 89th minute, secured the full score for India with a superb strike that ended Afghanistan’s hopes in the tournament.
The first 85 minutes saw most of India’s attacks ineffective as the home team failed to expand Afghanistan’s defensive formation.
India showed its offensive intention from the beginning but its attacks fell into the Afghan box. India head coach Igor Stimac brought in a few changes to the starting XI and placed youngster Liston Colaco in the new centre-back role.
AS HAPPENED: India vs Afghanistan Highlights
But India’s attack – captained by Sunil Chhetri, Manvir Singh and Ashique Kuruniyan – struggled most of the time trying to open the scoring in front of goal.
The final five minutes saw a major turnaround as India made a last-ditch effort to find the target and successfully do so against a weary Afghan defence.
India’s victory brought huge cheers among the thousands of people who came to cheer on the national team, which had picked up six points from two wins and now need to beat Hong Kong, which has already beaten Cambodia 3-0 earlier in the day to make the competition interesting. Samad, one of the emerging talents in India’s attack, proved his knack for scoring when he converted his first opportunity.
The Kerala Blasters forward created a good foundation after being placed in the Afghanistan penalty area by another ISL striker Ashique Kurunian, who moved to ATK Mohun Bagan this season from Bengaluru FC.
Sunil Chhetri proved his popularity as India’s most successful striker as he took the lead in the 86th minute with a free-kick over the Afghanistan wall to defeat India’s hopes.
The striker set the winning tempo by scoring his 83rd international goal while making his 128th appearance for the country. Samad, who came on for Chhetri, took the lead when he scored the winner in the match of death after Afghanistan came back quickly with a corner kick in the 88th minute.
