India vs Afghanistan: Insipid Asian Cup in the past, Igor Stimac puts heavy emphasis on World Cup qualifiers

A World Cup qualifier Round 2 match against Afghanistan may not come across as the proverbial barn burner for the Indian national football team. However, the heavy load of expectations attached to this match, and the other World Cup qualifiers, by coach Igor Stimac, is what makes this clash in the neutral venue of Abha, Saudi Arabia such a peculiar game in the context of Indian football.

Heavy sacrifices have been made for these World Cup qualifiers. The Asian Cup, the biggest tournament that the Indian team can possibly qualify for, was waylaid and persistently ignored by Stimac over this previous year. In fact, it was a press conference after the 0-3 World Cup qualifier loss to Qatar where the Croatian infamously stated that since he knew that the national team would not get the time of four weeks that was required for a camp, he was effectively ignoring the tournament. In that same conference, he proclaimed that the magical land for Indian football would be the third round of the World Cup qualifiers.

While the country has never qualified for the third round of the WCQ, it’s the strata of opposition and quality at that level that has become the de facto call to action for the national team. Finish in the top two of their group of Qatar, Kuwait and Afghanistan, and ten games against good quality Asian opposition suddenly sounds like a much better return on investment than a three-game run at the Asian Cup that could have, at best, led to a timid Round-of-16 exit.

Our #BlueTigers 🐯 are prepping up for the Afghanistan challenge 💪⚔️#FIFAWorldCupQualifiers 🏆 #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/NZbglrCaMD

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 20, 2024

In that regard, India has done fairly well. They may have lost to Qatar but the 1-0 victory against Kuwait on the road thanks to a Manvir Singh goal puts them in a far better position to finish second in their group. But that scenario assumes two victories, home and away, against Afghanistan, and if recent history is to be invoked, that is easier said than done.

Just in the last five years, India have met Afghanistan three times and two of those games have been 1-1 draws. The win for India was a 2-1 victory after a late goal in Kolkata. Clearly, FIFA rankings and perceptions are irrelevant in this scenario as oftentimes both teams engage in close matches with India shading results slightly.

But Stimac peculiarly seems to have already moved on from the Afghanistan games and has said that it’s the games after these that matter.

“Each game is important from the aspect of self-confidence and rankings. But our priority and the final goal is to qualify for Round 3. There are various options to get there and obviously, nothing will be decided in the next two games. The matches in June against Kuwait and Qatar will tell us everything,” Stimac said.

Looking back at @sahal_samad’s 𝐆⚽𝐀𝐋 against Afghanistan that sealed the result for #BlueTigers! 🇮🇳👊🏻#FIFAWorldCupQualifiers 🏆#IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/LTvo82xMkQ

— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) March 20, 2024

Also working against Stimac and the Indians is the timing of this match. Historically, the 56-year-old has inspired the national team to be its best possible version only after long national camps where he has often alluded to scrubbing the domestic league clean of his players for them to be an effective international team. For this match, India has only had over five training sessions together and face a team that has held a training camp at this very venue a few months back and had a practice friendly as well. Afghanistan may have lost heavily to Qatar and Kuwait, but a repeat of those circumstances are unlikely late Thursday evening.

Coaching Afghanistan is a familiar face in Ashley Westwood. Long known for his successful stewardship of Bengaluru FC, Westwood brings with him intricate knowledge of Indian football and what could very well be the pressure points of this already pressed team. Captain Sunil Chhetri acknowledged the presence of the Brit and said, “They will play like a unit, they will be aggressive, they will know exactly what they have to do because that’s how Ashley Westwood is. But I think it’s more about us. We are here right in the corner of Saudi Arabia and we really have to bounce back after what happened in the Asian Cup. It’s not going to be easy. We have to turn up.”

The pressure is at its highest peak for Stimac this time around. The lack of ambition in the runup to the Asian Cup, followed by some insipid performances against Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria – performances that resulted in one shot on target, a shot that hit the post and no goals scored over 270 minutes of football played in Doha, have made his position as the head coach of the Indian team under serious ponderings. A poor showing at a neutral 5000-seater venue near the western coast of Saudi Arabia might just be the last straw that breaks the camel’s back.

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