Indian football fans felt they were "robbed" after a controversial goal was allowed in favour of Qatar in India's 1-2 loss against the Gulf nation on Tuesday which ended their hopes of advancing to the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. (More Football News)
India had taken the lead at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha after a 35th minute strike from Lallianzuala Chhangte. The Blue Tigers dominated the first half and maintained their lead till the 73rd minute when a controversial refereeing decision sparked outrage on social media.
Qatar took a free kick from outside the box and the ball was launched towards the far post where it found Youssef Aymen whose header was blocked by Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
However, Sandhu could not cleanly collect the ball and it seemed to have rolled past the back line. Sandhu was convinced the ball was out of play but the referee did not think so.
Suddenly, Qatari forward Al Hassan pulled the ball back and passed it to Aymen who guided it into the Indian goalpost. The goal helped Qatar equalise and the home side started celebrating.
Indian team registered a strong protest but to no avail. Replays suggested that the ball had clearly moved out of play. But the decision was made and fans were enraged on the decision.
Taking to social media, some called it "robbery" while some termed the decision as "blatant cheating".
After leveling the score, Qatar scored the decisive goal in the 85th minute to win the match and end India's hopes of making it to the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers for the first time in their history.
With the loss, India came down to third in the group while Kuwait, who defeated Afghanistan 1-0 in the other game going on simultaneously, rose up to the second spot. Kuwait thus join Qatar to advance to the third round.
