Extremely proud of the team for our performance against Qatar, says Gurpreet Sandhu
India's goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu, who came up with a heroic performance on Tuesday to help India to a goalless draw against Qatar, said that he was extremely proud of the team's performance. With the draw, India became the first Asian side in 2019 to avoid defeat against Asian champions Qatar.
Having squandered a 1-0 lead and slipped to defeat at the hands of Oman last Thursday, not many people gave India a chance - to win or to draw - against Asian champions Qatar, who were coming on the back of a 6-0 win against Afghanistan. However, the Blue Tigers put up a heroic fight at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Qatar on Tuesday and walked away with a valuable point.
One of the heroes for India was goalkeeper Gurpreet Sandhu, who seemed like an impenetrable wall, blocking and saving everything that came his way. The 27-year-old lauded the team for their lion-hearted effort against the Asian champs and said that they will take a lot of heart from the performance.
"I feel extremely proud of the team for our performance against Qatar," Sandhu was quoted as saying by All India Football Federation's (AIFF) website, reported Times of India.
"The team-effort helped us achieve the result. It will help us immensely in the qualifiers. Everyone played their hearts out, and gave everything out on the pitch. That enabled us to come back to the dressing room, satisfied, and with a very crucial point," he added.
Despite walking away with a point, India face an uphill task of making it through to the next round, with them needing to win both their remaining matches to stand any chance. But Sandhu believes that nothing is out of the reach of this Indian team and that they'll take confidence from the Qatar game heading into the next set of matches.
"We have played just two matches, and we have played well, that too against two powerful teams. It gives us that added motivation and confidence that in football, anything is possible," the 27-year-old said.
India are currently placed fourth behind Afghanistan with one point from two matches and will host Bangladesh in their next match of the qualifiers on October 15.
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