Football: Qatar loss aside, India have only themselves to blame for World Cup qualifiers fiasco

You cannot shake the feeling that Indian football was robbed of something truly special following their controversial 1-2 loss to two-time defending AFC Asian Cup champions Qatar on Tuesday.

While it is convenient to blame the match officials for allowing Qatar’s opening goal to stand, it is not the reason why the Indian men’s team once again failed to go through to the third round of the Fifa World Cup Qualifiers.

The controversial loss should not take away from the fact that India have only themselves to blame for not getting the job done. In a group that also featured lower-ranked Kuwait and Afghanistan, India could manage only one win in six matches.

Qualifying for the Fifa World Cup was always going to be a monumental task. However, the expansion of the tournament from 32 teams to 48 teams from the 2026 edition onwards meant that the path had been made slightly easier for underdogs like India.

The expansion saw the Asian Football Confederation’s direct qualification slots double from four to eight. This also meant that the number of teams who made it to the third round of the Asian World Cup qualifiers increased from 12 to 18.

Qualifying for the third round would have proven to be a big...

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