India and Afghanistan played a goalless draw in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

India and Afghanistan played out a goalless draw in Group A in the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers and both the teams could not convert a single chance to score. In the match played late on Thursday, India came close to scoring a goal in the first half when Manvir Singh created two chances but could not convert. After this match, India is in second place in Group A with four points from three matches, while Kuwait has three points, which Qatar has taken 3. Defeated by 0.

Afghanistan is at fourth place in the group. Both the teams played very aggressively in the beginning at the Damac Stadium. While Afghanistan tried to dominate on the basis of its speed and height, the Indians’ passing was good. Vikram Pratap Singh, who made his debut in the senior team in January, appeared in the playing eleven for the first time and made repeated attempts to breach the Afghan defence. India played aggressively from the very first minute and if Manveer had scored a goal in the 17th minute, India would have got the lead in the second round away match in the 2026 World Cup and 2027 AFC Asian Cup preliminary joint qualification match.

Afghanistan also created chances on counter attacks but Indian goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu did not allow them to succeed. Manveer got one more chance in the first half when fullback Nikhil Pujari gave him a cross at a corner from Lalianjuala Chhangte but he failed to score. Vikram Pratap missed two chances in the second half. On the first occasion the ball remained away and on the second occasion he failed to make the right angle.

Disclaimer: IndiaTheNews has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.