India held to goalless draw in Chhetri’s farewell match

India’s World Cup qualifying chances dealt a body blow with draw against Kuwait

There was no victorious sendoff, nor any rousing goal to gild a glittering career. Sunil Chhetri left a 58,921-strong Yuba Bharati Krirangan with bowed head, folded hands and tears running down his cheeks in his final lap of honour, reminiscent of so many storied India careers starting and ending with dejection. The dream of India qualifying for the third round of the FIFA World Cup is still alive, but barely. India know chances were spurned in a messy 0-0 draw at what was the best stage to deliver a dream and give a suitable farewell to a legend.

Sunil Chhetri being hugged by coach Igor Stimac on his farewell match.(PTI)

It will only get more difficult from here. Placed second in the group with five points, India now need a result against Qatar in their final league match, chances of which are bleak. “We knew it would be tough,” said India coach Igor Stimac after the game. “All our games against Kuwait have been tight. But today we couldn’t open the game the way we wanted. There wasn’t enough aggression in the middle of the park. And not enough self-confidence at the start.”

Had it not been for Gurpreet Singh Sandhu’s game awareness, India’s chances of progression would have been snuffed on Thursday. But that was the only positive in an otherwise scrappy match. “Gurpreet was brilliant but the others were not 100% in the way we wanted them to be,” said Stimac.

It could all have been achieved here, at the heart of India’s football. There weren’t a lot of chances but some definitely trickled India’s way. Anwar Ali failing to keep a free header on target in the 12th minute off an Anirudh Thapa corner-kick was the only definite chance to come India’s way in a chaotic first half where Kuwait kept dispossessing the hosts in the midfield. India tried to switch to the wings, a move that yielded some promising moves.

In the 25th minute, Jay Gupta—making his international debut—floated in a cross from the left to Sahal Abdul Samad, but it was ultimately cleared. Four minutes later, Thapa sent in a cross that Kuwait’s back line cleared but didn’t fall beyond Samad on the edge of the box. Samad turned and quickly curled in a kick that ricocheted off one of the defenders and went to Liston Colaco, but his low kick crashed into the side netting.

It was only after the second half started that India’s attack gained more steam with Suresh angjam dropping behind to become defensive midfielder after Igor Stimac supplanted Thapa with Rahim Ali and Sahal with Brandon Fernandes. It bore immediate results. First, Fernandes set up Ali with a piercing through that he linked up with, haring to the top of the box but his low shot was saved. Two minutes later, another chance for Ali and this time he was in the clear with a long through but the finish again was wide of the target.

Kuwait had their moments too. A penetrative pass from Eid Al Rashidi early into the first half opened up left-winger Mohammad Abdulah who skipped a sliding challenge from Rahul Bheke but ran into Sandhu under the horizontal. Four minutes later, again Abdulah again prised open the defence but his curled shot on goal was saved by Sandhu. Not until the middle of the first-half had Kuwait got another look at the goal, but Abdulah messed up that move.

That Kuwait were overly dependent on Abdulah was evident in the way most of their passes converged on him. He floated in a cross to the far post for Faisal Al-Harbi but his low volley was well parried by Sandhu before Yousef Al-Sulaiman speared the rebound over the post. It was a recurrent theme with Kuwait, with Abdulah shooting a free-kick from the centre well over the horizontal.

Kuwait’s lapses allowed India to rebuild though, pressing through the fresher legs of Fernandes and Ali after the break. One corner from the left cleared, Fernandes sent in another in for Chhetri but it found Bheke, whose header went straight to Kuwait goalkeeper Sulaiman Abdulghafoor. But with the all-important breakthrough not coming, the game often seemed to lapse into phases of mediocrity.

If Liston Colaco wasted a promising forward pass, Abdulah struck the ball well over from horizontal. Manvir Singh was brought on to provide some momentum and it almost produced something when Fernandes set him up with a beautiful through but that move was killed by the industrious Hasan Alanezi.

A final gamble in the form of Edmund Lalrindika substituting Gupta didn’t produce the desired results as India kept stumbling in the final frontier, with Kuwait clearing a low cross from Fernandes before Manvir’s header off a cross going wide of the goal. Things really came to a head when a brawl erupted on the sidelines after Lalrindka was yanked off the ball but it only provided a distraction from the real, and oft-repeated story of India falling short of their World Cup dream.