India 1-2 Qatar

India produced a spirited effort and very nearly managed to outclass the defending champions Qatar before eventually losing out at the dying moments.

India began the match with a very positive attitude despite having a fierce opposition as they dominated the possession for most of the time in the first half.

That paid off on the 18th minute when defender D.Ravanan scored of a corner from captain Joquim Abranches. India managed to have the possession after gaining the lead too. India could have easily doubled the lead if forward Balwant Singh had not missed a golden chance in front of goal on 27th minute. The scoreline remained 1-0 for India till the Half Time whistle as India were looking to maintain the quality to the second half too.

The second half didn’t start as expected for India as their first choice goalkeeper Kuttimani got injured and had to be replaced and on came ex-East Bengal custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu in the 53rd minute. India then followed the same defensive ploy which they used against the Kuwait team in the last match. This time the defensive shell was formed to protect the lead which was never going to be easy for the young lads in front of the quality Qatar side.

Jarella Ali scored two goals

The defenders did well to hold the scoreline until the 80th minute when striker Jarella Ali scored the equalizer. After that late strike, India got another chance but again forward Balwant Singh missed the chance to grab the late lead. If India thought that was enough, then the Qatar forward had other ideas. He(Jarella Ali) managed to score the winning goal only 2 minutes before the Full Time.

Rowilson Rodrigues, Jibon Singh and Robert of India were penalized with Yellow cards which also means that Robert will miss the next tie against Singapore.

India now have to beat Singapore by a good margin if they hope to stay alive in the Asian Games.