Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Kathmandu: India reached the 2018 FIFA World Cup and 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifying second round after drawing 0-0 with Nepal at the Dashrath Rangasala Stadium on Tuesday to beat their South Asian neighbours 2-0 on aggregate.
The Indians, who had beaten Nepal 2-0 in the first leg at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium courtesy of a Sunil Chhetri second-half brace will now take their place in the second round where the AFC’s 34 highest-ranked teams await. The 40 nations will be drawn into eight groups of five teams and compete according to a double round robin format.
Despite seeing his side struggle to find a way past Nepal in the second leg, for Indian coach Stephen Constantine, who was also once in charge of Nepal, the result was all that mattered.
“It is nice to leave with a happy result. Result always matters and we achieved what we intended,” he told reporters.
“We came here to win but they put us under pressure. They gave everything they had and that speaks of the character of the Nepali people.
“We have to accept that didn’t play our best game and we need to do better. We’re trying to build a good team for the future and I promise that we will.”
The Round 2 qualification matches will be held between June 11, 2015 and March 29, 2016.
The group winners and four best runners-up (total 12 teams) will advance to the 2019 Asian Cup finals and the final round of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup.
The next best 24 teams from the preliminary stage of the joint qualifiers will compete in a separate competition for the remaining slots (12 slots or 11 slots + 1 slot for the host) in the 24-team 2019 Asian Cup finals.
Photo: All India Football Federation