- Wednesday, April 24, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
TUESDAY (14) was a memorable day for Indian football as the Asian side qualified for the 2023 Asian Cup. They did it even before taking the field for their fixture against Hong Kong as Palestine drubbed the Philippines 4-0. India, who are ranked 106th in the Fifa list and finished as the runners-up in the 1964 edition of the Asian Cup, will now make back-to-back appearances in the tournament as they had qualified for the 2019 edition as well.
On that occasion, India failed to clear the group-stage hurdle and could win only one game, which was against Thailand. They lost the hosts United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
India are currently placed second in Group D behind Hong Kong, which has also qualified, on goal difference. They can still qualify as the group winners and cannot be the worst second-placed teams, as per the competition rules.
India were set to play Hong Kong at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata in the eastern state of West Bengal.
The South Asian side beat Cambodia 2-0 in their opening game, thanks to a brilliant display from captain Sunil Chhetri who is among the top scorers of the tournament so far. They backed it with a thrilling 2-1 win over Afghanistan where Sahal Abdul Samad scored in the extra time to take India through.
Both India and Hong Kong are tied on six points but Hong Kong is ahead by one in the goal difference.
