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NEW DELHI — India’s devastating loss against Qatar has broke the hearts of football fans around the country as it resulted in the country being eliminated from the FIFA WC Qualifiers in the second round.
In the 73rd minute of the match, Qatar's Youssef Ayman Farahat scored an equalizer in controversial circumstances. Indian skipper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu saved a header, but the ball slipped through his legs and rolled out of play. Despite protests from Indian players and clear replays showing the ball was out, the goal was allowed, leading to a 1-1 scoreline for Qatar.
Following the loss Indian football fans took to social media to vent out their frustration and slammed the referee for allowing the unfair goal to Qatar.
"FIFA Rank 34th Qatar, robbed 121nd ranked India of a football world cup qualification with this goal that was noting but blatant #Cheating. They would’ve still qualified without this goal. What a beautiful game indeed @FIFAcom @FIFAWorldCup #QATIND,” said a fan on X.
"Qatar robbed India's spot for FIFA World Cup by cheating openly It's clearly visible that ball has crossed the line for a goal-kick but the nasty Qataris pull it back to tuck in. CLEARLY NOT A GOAL...!!!” added another.
"Really heartbreaking . Pathetic decision making that too in the world cup qualifiers," another post read.
"@FIFAcom Shall not we deserve impartial justice from you. Cancel this goal or cancel the game for sake of fair play .Let the better team win. Won't you like to check the role of referee," a user added.
"Absolutely nonsense!!! @FIFAWorldCup @FIFAcom ball was clearly outside the line, India robbed of famous victory!!" a fan reacted.
Igor Stimac has been at the helm of Indian football for five years now and the fans seem to have had enough. The team even though has improved under the Croatian’s tenure but there has been no quantifiable result to make his case.
Stimac had previously hinted that he may step down from his post if the team fails to make it to the third round of the qualifiers.
Following the controversial end of the game, 'Stimac Out' started trending on X.
“For a change, walk the talk and just LEAVE, Mr. Igor "bigmouth" Stimac @stimac_igor. If he doesn't, will you have the guts to do what should have been done a long ago, Mr. @kalyanchaubey? Just kick him out of Indian soil - at once,” read a tweet by a user on X
“Robbed? Yes. But, still gives us no excuse to lose against Afghanistan & drop points against Kuwait. It's high time for Stimac to leave, as per his own words & if not, people in power of AIFF should resign too! (Only if there is some shame left) -Every IFT Fan,” said another.