FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualification: India’s road to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in USA, Canada, and Mexico has taken a big hit, as the peninsular nation endured a huge shocking defeat a against home Afghanistan. Afghanistan, a nation who is not even in the Top 150 of the FIFA Rankings, secured a shocking victory over the hosts and what was eventually more shocking that the manner in which they won the match, lured the Indian fans to gave a standing ovation to the Afghans and even did the ‘Viking Claps’ to honour an iconic performance from the visitors.
Check out the upcoming fixtures and the current standings in the #FIFAWorldCup qualifiers! 📊#AsianQualifiers 🏆 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/tUVsDCeKqt
Indian football team’s head coach, Igor Stimac, issues a public statement before the match that he will leave the job if India fails to progress into the next round, but after the dismal result, the Croatian is now in the hot seat as he is facing immense backlash from Indian fans.
The fixture marked the 150th appearance for Indian legend Sunil Chettri and he marked the occasion with an opening goal, but all the celebrations went cold and India suffered a heart break with comeback goals from Afghanistan.
𝙇𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙋𝙧𝙞𝙙𝙚, 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙥𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙂𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨! 💪🏻🤴
A tremendous achievement for our Captain @chetrisunil11 as he marks his 1️⃣5️⃣0️⃣th appearance for the National Team! 🇮🇳
150 games and still going strong⏳💙#BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/QduVhLGlKq
India are now in deep trouble with defeat to Afghanistan and inorder for the Blue Tigers to progress to Round 3 of qualification stage, they will have to win the following fixtures in-order to stand a chance:
The fixture against two-time Asian Cup champions Qatar is a big ask for the Indian side, but the fixture against Kuwait is a huge opportunity for the Sunil Chettri led side to gain full advantage of the home conditions.
