Indian football team, captained by Sunil Chhetri, will once start their campaign for FIFA World Cup 2021 qualifiers and Asian Cup qualifiers after a break due to the Covid-19 situation. Indian team reached Qatar a few days ago and they will face Asian champion Qatar on Thursday. Apart from Qatar, India has to play Bangladesh on June 7 and Afghanistan on June 15.
This match against Qatar is not going to be easy for India. There is a big difference in the FIFA rankings of the two sides. On one hand, Qatar is at 58th place, while India currently sits at 105th spot. However, the Indian team played a goalless draw against Qatar in the World Cup qualifying match in 2019, which boosted its morale. In that match, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu took over the command of the team instead of Chhetri.
India has to play its home match in the capital of Qatar as the matches of Group E, which were postponed last year due to Covid-19, are now being held at the same venue. India did not perform well after the draw against Qatar. Qatar, on the other hand, will enter this match with winning momentum after they beat Luxembourg 1–0 and Azerbaijan 2–1 in friendly matches played in March while drawing a 1–1 draw against Ireland.
India is entering this match after getting crushed in a 0-6 defeat to UAE in a friendly match in March.
Meanwhile, India could not even prepare well as it had to cancel the national camp in early May due to the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.
The India vs Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers match will be telecast live on the Star Sports 2, Star Sports 2 HD and Star Sports 3 TV channels in India.
Live streaming of India vs Qatar will be available on Disney+ Hotstar and Jio TV.
The match at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha starts at 10:30 PM IST.