Indian football fans spewed as poor refereeing robbed India of a chance to secure a historic entry into the third round of the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers. At the Asian champions, Qatar rode on a controversial goal and emerged 2-1 winners at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium on June 11.
India was ahead thanks to Lallianzuala Chhangte’s 37th-minute goal but disaster struck when the referee adjudged Yousef Aymen’s 73rd-minute equaliser as fair after the ball appeared to have gone out of play. The controversial decision turned the game on its head as Qatar scored their second through Ahmed Al-Rawi in the 85th minute.
India’s Goalie Gurpreet Singh Sandhu saved a header from Qatar but then the ball slipped out of his hand out of play and the Indian defence stopped playing waiting for the whistle from the referee. However, the referee did nothing and so Qatar player Al Hassan pulled the ball back into the play to square it to Aymen who then passed it into an empty goal.
Football fans were fumed over this poor referring and called it clear cheating.
One user on X wrote, “The worst part about this is that Qatar players No. 5 & 6 clearly knew that the ball had gone outside, and still they continued celebrating the Goal”
Another user wrote, “Cheating is not only done by referee but by players too.. Sportsmanship is gone from sports.. Watching sports these days is not fun like it used to be decade back.”
“Even my school had better referree than these international matches of FIFA. If they are sold out for money, Indian team should better rest and relax. No point of being dejected for rigged cause.”
“Qatar’s blatant cheating against India is outrageous!”
Another user questioned, “Why is there no VAR? They would have not been able to cheat”
“Shameful day for soccer”
“Rank 34th Qatar did an open robbery against Rank 121st India even when Qatar is already qualified for 3rd round.”
“Kim Woo-Sung, the South Korean referee for the game hands out a yellow card to India’s Sahal, for only repeatedly asking about the refereeing blunder earlier in the game, which led to Qatar unfairly leveling the game”
“Awful refereeing, that too in a world cup qualifying match! Shameful act by the Qatari footballers as well. Today is a black day in the history of football”
“They Helped Kuwait indirectly now India is knocked out and Kuwait is automatically qualified. So they did it on purpose by buying referee . Oil money is Ruining this beautiful Sport”
“4th ranked Qatar robbed 121st ranked India’s chance to qualify for the FIFA WC by cheating. Even a blind person could tell that the ball went outside before going into the goal post, but the match referee couldn’t”
(With inputs from PTI)
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Published: 12 Jun 2024, 09:56 AM IST