The two sides last clashed in June 2021 during the World Cup Qualification AFC second round match at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha where India succumbed to a narrow 0-1 defeat after going down to 10 men early in the first half.
After defeating Kuwait on Thursday, India will host World No.61 and Asia’s sixth-best team, Qatar, in the second round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers on November 21 at Kalinga Stadium in Odisha.
The two sides last clashed in June 2021 during the World Cup Qualification AFC second round match at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha where the Blue Tigers succumbed to a narrow 0-1 defeat after going down to 10 men early in the first half.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu played one of the games of his life in the previous World Cup qualifying campaign away in Qatar, in a game that finished 0-0. Qatar possess some of Asia's best attacking players, in the likes of Akram Afif, Hassan Al-Haydos and Akram Afif. That night in Doha, they threw everything at Gurpreet, but he repelled everything.
⚡🔝💥
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) November 19, 2023
Two sleeps away from the big one against Qatar 👊
Come on, #BlueTigers 💙#IndianFootball ⚽ pic.twitter.com/JzkUWp7SyR
It's not going to be a lone wolf job for Gurpreet, though. He will demand near-perfection from those in front of him. Jhingan to put his body on the line of everything, Bheke to remain steady alongside, Akash Mishra and Nikhil Poojary to contest their one-vs-one battles fiercely. But when coming up against a side of Qatar's pedigree, there is no doubt that they will create chances, they will have their shots on goal. For a man who generally relishes the big occasion, this is another one of those for Gurpreet.
If he and his defence can keep that backdoor shut through the opening exchanges and long enough into the game, there's a chance that Qatar will try to force things a bit more and potentially open up a few spaces for India in an attacking sense. The game-plan is likely to be a counter-attacking one, and it relies on the big no.1's clean sheet remaining intact for as long as he can manage it.
India have already shown once before in 2023 that they can go toe-to-toe against the better Asian sides, and that 2-2 draw against Iraq in September should give them some belief. But when the Asian champions come to town, the nature of the beast is that much stronger. Winning six points out of the first six available may have been even beyond some dreams that Stimac might have had, but India stand on the cusp of a golden opportunity. Can they grab it?
