Gritty India hold Asian Champions Qatar to goal-less draw in World Cup qualifiers
Doha: A gritty India survived waves of attacks from Qatar to hold the reigning Asian champions to a goal-less draw to steal an unexpected point from their away match of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers here on Tuesday.
Despite playing without their talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri who was laid low by fever, the young Indians denied Qatar, who won the Asian Cup title in January, any goal despite the home side having more than one dozen shots on target.
Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who also wore the captain's armband, was the star of the visiting side as he single-handedly stopped the Qataris from scoring any goal in the Group E match which will be remembered for long by the Indians.
It was, no doubt, one of the best results by India in recent times.
India, who had suffered a heartbreaking 1-2 loss to Oman in their opening match on September 5 in Guwahati, now have one point from two matches while Qatar have four points as they had beaten Afghanistan 6-0 in their first match here.
The two sides had played just one official senior match before Tuesday and Qatar had won 6-0 in September 2007 in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
India next play Bangladesh on October 15 in Kolkata. It was a completely one-sided match with Qatar doing all the attack and the Indians defending in their half for most part of the match.
Qatar, ranked 62nd in the world, had more than two dozen shots on Indian goal out of which at least a dozen were on target. India, 103 in the latest FIFA rankings, on the other hand, had just two shots on the opposition goal in the entire match.
To the credit of the Indians, they defended brilliantly, maintained their shape throughout and did not give space to the speedy Qatari attackers.
In the first half, India expectedly sat deep and defended their citadel. The home side had at least half a dozen on-target shots and seven corners in the first half while India did not have any.
Sandhu was a busy man as he was called into action several times but he remained unbeaten.
Qatar captain Hassan Al-Haydos had two shots early into the match but Sandhu was upto the task, including the brilliant finger-tip save in the 20th minute.
A mispass from Mandar Rao Desai in the 14th minute just outside the penalty box fell for Abdul Aziz Hatem, but his curling strike flew just above the crossbar.
A free header off Boualem Khoukhi in the 26th minute was also off the target as India escaped unscathed in the first half.
The second half saw India opening up a bit and they were seeing more of the opposition goal than the first half but still could not get a clear goal-bound shot.
Sahal Samad was brilliant in the midfield as he, on a few occasions, got the better of his opponents and sent fine passes to the likes of Udanta Singh.
India got their first corner in the 66th minute. Anirudha Thapa delivered a long corner and Sahal took a left-footed half volley from just outside the box which flew inches away from the right post.
Igor Stimac made four changes to his side from the eleven that started in their 1-2 defeat against Oman. Chhetri was left out as he was suffering from fever. Ashique Kuruniyan has a slight niggle and therefore Nikhil Poojary took his place. Brandon Fernandes and Subhasish Bose were replaced by Sahal Samad and Mandar Rao Desai.
Qatar head coach Felix Sanchez, on the other hand, made two changes to the line-up that started against Afghanistan whom they had beaten 6-0. Akram Afif and Karim Boudiaf were forced out due to injuries and they were replaced by Bassam Hisham and Abdul Aziz Hatem.
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BJP state chief Vijayendra accuses Cong govt of corruption, Shivakumar hits back
Belagavi (Karnataka) (PTI): Accusing the Congress government in Karnataka of rampant corruption, state BJP President B Y Vijayendra on Thursday alleged that the money collected through "loot and by emptying the state's coffers" is being paid to the party high command, to continue in power.
Hitting back, Deputy CM D K Shivakumar called Vijayendra as "king of collection", and held him responsible for "bringing down" his father and former CM B S Yediyurappa's name.
"From the time the Congress government came to power, money has been paid to the party high command through corruption. We have been saying that if the Congress is in power in the state, it will turn into an ATM for their high command. Hundreds of crores were misappropriated in Valmiki ST Development Corporation. After that, one scam after the other is taking place," Vijayendra said.
Speaking to reporters here, the state BJP chief alleged that to satisfy the Congress high command, money is being collected from contractors. "You may be aware that the state contractors' association had also written a letter alleging commission."
"No development works are happening in this government, other than corruption.....for those who want to loot, rich or poor doesn't matter. Continuing in power by satisfying the Congress high command, looting the state and emptying its coffers, is the only thing that is happening in this government," Vijayendra claimed.
Reacting to the allegations, Shivakumar said Vijayendra lacks experience, and challenged him to speak in the Assembly as to which coffer is empty.
"Which coffer is empty? He should say, let him come and speak in the Assembly, instead of running away somewhere. Let him come to the Assembly here and speak about which coffer, what collection? Should I reveal their collections, accounts and transfers? I too know what to speak. He should speak whatever he has to, within his limits as the party president," he told reporters.
"If there is any king for collections, it is Vijayendra. He is responsible for bringing down his father's name," he alleged.
Speaking about the legislature session and the discussions that have happened so far, Vijayendra said that he had no expectations about getting solutions to the issues raised from the "outgoing CM".
"You will have to understand the situation of the chief minister (Siddaramaiah), who is an outgoing chief minister. No one knows when he will resign. Listening to the way in which the CM is speaking, anyone will naturally feel that -- let it be, how long will he be there in the post?" he said.
Further noting that how long will one be in the CM chair is not important, but what work he does while in the post is important, he said, "some had hopes, as this may be Siddaramaiah's last session (as CM)....but, when he has not done any development work for the last 2.5 years, what will he do now in two weeks?"
Terming the allegations of usurping 21.16 acres of land against Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda in Kolar district as "serious", Vijayendra said, the matter will be raised during the session.
"....can illegality happen or be allowed in the guise of ancestral property? Is it permitted under law? It is a serious matter," he said.
Responding to a question on extending the session for one more week, the state BJP chief said the Leader of Opposition R Ashoka had written to the Speaker regarding this, but as per his knowledge, there has been no positive response so far.
The winter session of the state legislature, which began on December 8, is scheduled to conclude on December 19.
