Fans React To Referee Mistake Qatar Vs India: Massive controversy in the World of football just took place yesterday as India was denied an opportunity to advance in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers due to poor refereeing.
India took on Qatar in the final game of the Group A in the second round of the World Cup qualifiers. With five points in the group, India needed a win to finish in the top two and make it to the next round.
In the 73rd minute of the game with India 1-0 up, Qatar took a shot from a wide angle which was saved by keeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu.
But the ball took a little spill through his legs and went behind the line for what would have been a corner. The Indian players thought the play had been stopped, but a Qatar player just pulled the ball in, passing it to Yousef Aymen who put it in the net.
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At this point, the referee should’ve stepped in and informed the players that the ball had gone out of the field and the goal would not stand. Instead, the goal was allowed. Turns out the field officials never noticed that the ball had crossed the line.
The situation was made worse by VAR not being present for this match. Despite the controversy surrounding the technology, it is put in place for precisely such situations.
That goal meant that India was not qualifying for the next round. With Kuwait on seven points in the group after defeating Afghanistan, India absolutely needed a win here.
The last nail in the coffin of India’s World Cup qualification hopes was Qatar’s second goal in the 85th minute
Fans React To Referee Mistake Qatar Vs India
Naturally, football fans in India and across the world took to social media to express their dissatisfaction with the whole situation –
Some fans even went so far as to accuse Qatar of cheating and FIFA of collusion with the 2022 World Cup hosts –
However, it should be noted that Qatar would make it to the third round of the 206 FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers irrespective of the result of this match. Qatar had 13 points in this group before this game. Even if they had lost, they would’ve finished five points above India.
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