2018 World Cup Qualifiers: India crashes to a 0-3 loss against dominant Oman

2018 World Cup Qualifiers: India crashes to a 0-3 loss against dominant Oman

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Oman humbled India 3-0 at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, as the tired and under-prepared visitors were dominated from the start in this World Cup Qualifier match-up.

India arrived at Muscat, lying bottom of Group D of World Cup Qualifiers. They were yet to score a point, and had only managed to score three goals in as many matches.  

The match saw India being pegged back in their own half for long periods, hardly able to carry the ball forward to build any sort of meaningful attack. The visitors struggled to retain the ball, and the Indian defense was put to the sword by Oman’s relentless attack.

Oman came close to scoring in the 22nd minute when defender Mohammed Al-Balushi headed against the post from a corner. The first half was largely one-sided with Oman dictating the play. The strong, brave goalkeeping by India’s Gurpreet Singh Sandhu kept the scores level at 0-0, as the two sides headed into the break.

The deadlock was broken on 55 minutes when Ahmed Mubarak Al-Mahaijri found the back of the net following a good cross into the area. Ahmed Mubarak applied the finishing touches after ball was helped on by Abdulaziz Al Muqbali’s diving header.

After Oman took the lead, the result was imminent. Second half substitute, Abdulaziz Al Muqbali doubled the host’s lead on 67 minutes, and completed his brace on the 84th minute, to condemn India to their fifth straight defeat in their Qualifying campaign. It was a comfortable win for them over a distinctly average Indian side that hardly threatened.

The hosts' dominance did not justify the score-line, and it was largely down to some brilliant keeping by Sandhu. India’s hope of finishing fourth in the group, in order to advance to the third round of the Asian Cup qualifiers, took a massive hit with this loss.

The tired and under-prepared Indians were short on practice and lost at least a day's training after being stranded in Ashgabat due to non-availability of flights after their 1-2 loss to Turkmenistan.

India’s next fixture is against Guam at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium, Bangalore, on the November 12.

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