Sport

Afghanistan and India play out goalless draw in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

Published

7 months ago

March 22, 2024

The Indian men's football team was held to a goalless draw by Afghanistan in its Group A match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers at the Damac Club Stadium in Abha, Saudi Arabia on Friday.

Courtesy the result, India, 117th in the FIFA Rankings, moved up to the second place in Group A with four points from three matches, leapfrogging Kuwait who have three points. World No. 158 Afghanistan are bottom of the four-team group with one point, Olympics.com reported.

The Indian football team has also now failed to score in its last five outings. Manvir Singh’s winner vs Kuwait on November 16, 2023 is the last time the Indian team managed an international goal.

A feisty midfield battle ensued in the opening exchanges. While Afghanistan looked to use their pace and physicality to assert dominance, India were intent on playing a passing game.

Vikram Partap Singh, who had earned his senior national team debut in January, made the starting XI for the first time in his career and consistently troubled the Afghanistan defence. The forward kept drifting in between the centre and the wing, often switching with Manvir Singh, which caused much confusion in the Afghanistan ranks.

As the match wore on, the Indian midfield slowly began to assert control. Lallianzuala Chhangte, prancing down the left, found an unmarked Manvir with a low cross. The latter, who had drifted inside from the right flank, sent his shot wide.

Despite India’s control over the game, Afghanistan kept creating chances of their own, especially on the counter. Mosawer Ahadi was released down the right flank before cutting in and unleashing a left-footed curler that India custodian Gurpreet Singh Sandhu caught with both hands.

Manvir had more than one opportunity to score in the first-half itself, first from a corner by Chhangte and then from a cross whipped in by fullback Nikhil Poojary. However, both went begging as the first-half came to a close.

Vikram Pratap, too, missed a few in the second-half.

Twice, he was played in behind the Afghanistan defence. While on the first occasion, the ball was just a yard too far, the 22-year-old managed to wriggle past his marker in the second opportunity, only to make the angle too narrow for himself to take a crack at goal.

Vikram’s last opportunity came just minutes ahead of the hour mark when he managed to get into the six-yard box, unmarked, and connected a header onto a cross by Akash Mishra. The effort went inches wide.

Vikram’s night, however, soon came to an end. A mistimed tackle earned him a booking, and head coach Igor Stimac took the opportunity to replace him with Brandon Fernandes.

Afghanistan kept resorting to the counter-attacks and had arguably their best scoring opportunity of the game in the 62nd minute when Rahmat Akbari’s low cross found Omid Popalzay in the Indian box but Rahul Bheke intervened just in time to shrug the Afghanistan midfielder off the ball.

Stimac made a host of changes with a quarter of an hour left on the clock, bringing on Liston Colaco, Mahesh Naorem, and Deepak Tangri. Colaco found a lot of joy down the right, frequently sending in crosses but the Afghanistan defence managed to deal with them.

Subhasish Bose, who had earlier replaced Mishra, also managed to get a free header inside the Afghanistan box, as he nodded a Colaco corner inches wide of the target.

As the match wore into injury time, Colaco created one last opportunity, sprinting down the right flank. His low cross missed captain Sunil Chhetri but landed at Mahesh’s feet, who tried to create space for a shot but lost possession.

The Afghan men's football team will again play India in its next match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 AFC qualifiers on March 26 in Guwahati.

Related Topics:#َAfghanistan featured Football India Sport

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Brazil, Ukraine, Argentina and France through to Futsal World Cup semi-finals

The tournament’s most successful team so far has been Brazil, with Marcel the top scorer.

Published

4 days ago

October 1, 2024

Ariana News

Brazil, Ukraine, Argentina and debutants France are all through to this year’s FIFA Futsal World Cup in Uzbekistan after having come out tops through the groups stage, round of 16 and the quarterfinals.

Semis will kick off on Wednesday, October 2, when Brazil face Ukraine in Tashkent.

On Thursday, October 3, Argentina will face France.

Third-place match will be played on Sunday, October 6 in Tashkent.

The final will follow later in the day.

The tournament’s most successful team so far has been Brazil with Marcel the top scorer.

There have been 341 goals scored in 48 matches, averaging 7.1 goals per match up to the quarterfinals. Leading the pack is Brazil’s Marcel, who has scored an impressive 10 goals.

Close behind is Argentina’s Alan Brandi with 7 goals.

Iran’s Salar Aghapour follows with 6 goals and several players are tied with 5 goals each, including Argentina’s Kevin Arrieta and Matías Rosa, Brazil’s Pito, Kazakhstan’s Arnold Knaub, and Venezuela’s Kevin Briceño.

Francis Lokoka, Abdessamad Mohammed and Raphael Reynaud discuss France beating Paraguay and reaching the FIFA Futsal World Cup Uzbekistan 2024 quarter-finals.

For France however, making it to the semi-finals is a dream come true. Making their first ever appearance at this global event, team member Abdessamad Mohammed summed it up after they beat Paraguay. “I’m not sure we could have dreamt for more than this,” he said.

Fellow teammate Francis Lokoka added: “It is absolutely amazing. If somebody had told me this was going to happen, I would not have believed them in my wildest dreams.”

“It is unbelievable,” said coach Raphael Reynaud. “When we came here our aim was to make it through the group stage. But we are competitors so once we’d achieved that, we told ourselves that anything was possible. We believe that we can go far in this tournament.

“What is happening here is a dream come true, but we have worked hard to get here, putting the pieces together one step at a time. It is no accident that we have come this far. You do not beat Paraguay in a World Cup quarter-final by chance.”

Sport

Ukraine secures spot in FIFA Futsal World Cup semi-final

Kazakhstan meanwhile take on Argentina on Monday night, after eliminating reigning world and European champions Portugal. Argentina defeated Croatia in their round of 16 match.

Published

5 days ago

September 30, 2024

Ariana News

Ukraine has reached their first Futsal World Cup semi-final since 1996 after beating Venezuela 9-4 on Sunday to set up a Wednesday tie with Brazil, who knocked out Morocco.

The final two quarter-finals matches are on Monday and first up will be France and Paraguay. This comes after France beat Thailand 5-2 in the round of 16.

Kazakhstan meanwhile take on Argentina on Monday night, after eliminating reigning world and European champions Portugal. Argentina defeated Croatia in their round of 16 match.

Quarter-finals

30 September: France vs Paraguay (14:30, Bukhara)
30 September: Kazakhstan vs Argentina (17:00, Tashkent)

Semi-finals

Semis will get underway on Wednesday, October 2, when Ukraine face Brazil in Tashkent.

On Thursday, October 3, Kazakhstan or Argentina will face France of Paraguay.

Third-place match
This match will be played on Sunday, 6 October in Tashkent.
The final will follow later in the day.

Don’t forget to tune in to Ariana Television to watch these exciting matches - which are being broadcast live by Ariana Television Network.

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Afghanistan to play three ODIs against Bangladesh in November

The three-match ODI series will begin on the 6th of November, with the 2nd and 3rd ODIs scheduled to be played on the 9th and 11th of November, respectively. The exact venue is yet to be finalized.

Published

6 days ago

September 29, 2024

Ariana News

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Sunday confirmed that it will host Bangladesh for a series of three One Day International (ODI) matches from November 06 – 11 in the United Arab Emirates.

The three-match ODI series will begin on the 6th of November, with the 2nd and 3rd ODIs scheduled to be played on the 9th and 11th of November, respectively. The exact venue is yet to be finalized.

These three ODIs, along with three T20Is and two Tests, were originally part of Afghanistan’s Future Tour Program (FTP) and scheduled for July-August this year. However, the series was postponed due to extreme heat in the UAE and India, where ACB usually hosts its home events, ACB said in a statement.

Following extensive discussions, both boards have agreed to proceed with just the ODI leg, which will be crucial in both teams' preparations for the ICC Champions Trophy which is set to take place in Pakistan in February next year, the statement said.

Afghanistan recently secured a historic 2-1 series victory over South Africa and are set to tour Zimbabwe in December for an all-format series against the home side.