India vs Kuwait: Historic FIFA World Cup third-round qualifying chance at stake in Chhetri’s farewell match

The Match

India vs Kuwait, FIFA World Cup Qualifying third round fixture

06 June 2024, Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata

7.00 PM kickoff (telecast on Sports 18/Jio Cinema, live blog on espn.in)

The Big Picture

“This is the biggest game of my career,” said Igor Stimac at the pre-match press conference of the crunch India vs Kuwait FIFA World Cup qualifier.

Coming from a man who finished third in the World Cup as a player, this was quite something, but Stimac has never been one to downplay things. Where Kuwait’s coach Rui Bento had shown restraint in his pre-match presser and talked about how this was just another match, if an important one, the head coach of the Indian national team had gone all in.

“Although I’m foreigner in this country,” he said, “today I’m proud to say I feel more Indian than many Indians and I will tell you honestly this is the biggest game altogether of my playing career and my coaching career. And the simple reason is this: when you have the chance to make one person happy and you do that, then you are a happy man. We have the chance to make 1.5 billion people happy tomorrow, and we need to do everything to make that happen.”

The hyperbole aside, what Stimac said was echoed by captain Sunil Chhetri too. “This is huge. Once we win it, things will change,” he said.

The match has been overshadowed completely by Chhetri’s decision to retire from the national team after it — once again underscoring how larger-than-life he has been for Indian football — but both coach and captain were keen to drive home just how big this match was even without the ‘farewell’ narrative. They repeated it often, the prospect of playing the likes of Japan and Australia in the next round, emphasizing just how much this would mean to Indian football and you got the feeling the entire team is pumped up for this one. After all a win, and they are more or less assured passage through to the third round of World Cup qualifying.

Which might play into the hands of a slowly improving Kuwait team.

Equally passionate on the field, their recent matches have been tempestuous affairs but if the visiting team keep their calm, the multiple angles of pressure – a packed (and demanding) Salt Lake, Chhetri’s farewell, the second round in touching distance – could wreak havoc with the Indian team’s psyche. That tendency to crumble under pressure has been starkly visible, with India yet to register a win in their last six attempts. (Interestingly, their last win came against Thursday’s opponents, Manvir Singh’s late goal sealing a 1-0 win in Kuwait City.)

Kuwait are feeling the heat too: a proud footballing nation that’s been performing poorly for years now, Bento has (given time) carefully sculpted them into a team that can threaten anyone on their day. Just ask the group’s runaway leaders Qatar, who were given a fright on the last match day and required a 80th minute winner to eke out a 2-1 win.

India also have to counter the fact that their last two qualifiers went off rather horrendously. If a draw away to Afghanistan was borderline acceptable, the home loss was a gut punch that followed a depressingly familiar pattern – Chhetri scoring, and India caving once he left the field. The two results were a big dampener on the mood surrounding the national team, and while Chhetri’s announcement will draw numbers in – on the field and on screens across – any sign of the lethargy that plagued the Afghanistan games and they could well turn against the team.

Kuwait may be bottom of the group but they’re just a point behind India and Afghanistan, and their last two matches are against those very sides. With the other two having to face Qatar, Kuwait know their fate is almost surely in their own hands. This knowledge, plus Bento’s astute coaching, make them a dangerous opponent for an Indian team looking to ride the Sunil Chhetri wave one final time.

Key Players

Kuwait

Mohammad Daham

The 24-year-old left winger made his debut at the SAFF Championship in India last year and has evolved rapidly to become one of his country’s primary attacking threats. He was Kuwait’s best player in that impressive display against Qatar, and not only for his well taken goal. He constantly threatened the flanks and played a big role in Kuwait out-shooting Qatar, and matching them for chances created.

With India’s right the defensively weaker of the two flanks (unless Rahul Bheke is deployed at right back), Daham could be the key to unlocking India on home turf.

India

Please. There’s only one Sunil Chhetri. Last match, big match, and his innate sense of coming in clutch when it matters most… and all eyes will be on Chhetri on Thursday. He remains India’s most potent goal threat (he’s scored 49% of all of India’s goals over the past five years) and if he gets ticking, Kuwait’s defence could have a big problem on their hands: especially when you consider Lallianzuala Chhangte’s late season flourish domestically and his ability to combine well with Chhetri.

Concerns (and possible solutions)

Kuwait

Three matches over the course of the past 13 months, three losses. Kuwait have played well against India in most of these matches, but they’ve failed to take their chances and have been punished for momentary lapses at the back.

Their recent performances, though, have shown they’re not the same team India faced in Bengaluru at the SAFF Championship, nor indeed the one they beat last November in these qualifiers. Daham’s creativity could be the one ingredient that they seemed to so desperately miss in 2023.

India

Bench strength. ‘Who after Chhetri’ has now become a front-and-centre problem but it’s been that for a while. If Stimac hooks Chhetri and perhaps a Lallianzuala Chhangte or a Manvir Singh, who’s there to provide a threat off the bench? The coach said as much in the presser saying that in the last few games he got “nothing” from the bench… but also said that he’s got a few different options this time around.