Qatar's Almoez Ali (right) and Yusuf Abdurisag celebrate a goal.
Asian champions Qatar yesterday outclassed India 3-0 in Bhubaneswar to continue their dominant run in the Preliminary Joint Qualification - Round 2 for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027.
Al Annabi’s second straight victory after an 8-1 rout of Afghanistan at home last week put them on top of Group A with six points. Kuwait jumped to second after a 4-0 victory over Afghanistan in Dammam, pushing India to third place.
Head coach Carlos Queiroz has been persistent in giving opportunities to the new blood since taking over in February and his strategy seems to be working fine particularly in the qualifiers.
Qatar midfielder Mostafa Meshaal celebrates after scoring the opening goal.
Yesterday, two of his young guns – Mostafa Meshaal and Yusuf Abdurisag – had their names on the scoresheet along with striker Almoez Ali, who maintained his exceptional goal-scoring form after smashing a super hat-trick against Afghanistan.
“Our goal from the beginning was to get six points from the two matches, and we actually achieved that. We controlled the match, we tried offensively, we were the best and we scored three goals and we achieved match points,” Queiroz said after the win.
The defeat at the packed Kalinga Stadium ended India’s 10-game unbeaten run at home.
Qatar were impressive throughout the match keeping the in-form hosts under pressure from the word go with their aggressive approach.
After playmaker Akram Afif, who was behind most of Qatar’s attacks, wasted a golden opportunity soon after the kick off, Meshaal opened the scoring in fourth minute hitting a left-footed shot from Tameem Mansour’s assist following a corner.
It was the 22-year-old midfielder’s second goal in the qualifiers after he scored one against Afghanistan.
Queiroz’s men continued to dominate with Hassan Al Haydos and Meshaal coming close to scoring their second goal before the break.
There was no respite for Igor Stimac’s men after the half-time as Qatar resumed in a similar fashion with Almoez doubling the advantage in the 47th minute, smashing the ball into the net from a close range after a shot from Afif.
Such was Qatar’s dominance in the match that they had won 10 out of their 11 corners inside the hour-mark.
Substitute Mahesh Naorem almost brought India back in the match but his shot was just wide of target.
Al Sadd forward Abdurisag, 24, ended India’s hopes of a comeback heading the ball in from the left side of the six yard box following a cross by Mohammed Waad in 86th minute.
As the qualifiers will resume in March next year, Queiroz will now shift focus on preparing his ranks for the title defence in the AFC Asian Cup Qatar 2023 scheduled to take place from January 12 to February 10, 2024.
Qatar will play their next qualifier against Kuwait on March 21, 2024 before meeting their GCC opponents again on March 26. They will play Afghanistan on June 6 and will take on India on June 11.
