Told to hang up his boots after a medical condition, Anwar Ali's persistence and optimism in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds paid rich dividends on Tuesday. (More Football News)
Thanks to goals from Anwar, Sunil Chhetri – he does that almost every other day – Manvir Singh and Ishan Pandita, India capped off their historic AFC Asian Cup 20꧑23 qualification campaign in style, sweepi☂ng aside a strong Hong Kong side 4-0 under heavy rains at the Salt Lake Stadium.
Igor Stimac's side brought out its A game on a stormy night and started off with a blitz as Anwar (2nd) and Chhetri (45') gave India a 2-0 lead. It was then a tale of super subs as Manvir (85th) and Pandita (90+3rd) came off t♌he bench to complete the rout and help India (nine points) top group D with three wins on the trot, ahead of Hong Kong (six).
The Blue Tigers raced to a 1-0 lead with the 21-year-old center-🎃back Anwar scoring his maiden international goal four years after his career nearly ended on health grounds.
The 2017 Under-17 World Cup star, whose career had been put on hold after being diagnosed with rare heart disease (Hypertrophic Myocardiopathy), scored from 🍌a short Ashique Kuruniyan corner with his right-footed str🍌ike into the top corner.
The versatile defender, playing alongside Sandesh Jhingan, not only made hi👍s presence felt in ♒the backline but also made some fluid moves up front. The talismanic Chhetri doubled the lead just before the break from a 30-yard freekick to bring up his fourth goal of the tournament.
Jeakson Singh floated in a brilliant freekick as the skipper controlled it brilliantly with a deft first touch bౠefore calmly slotting it home to notch his 84th international strike that saw him go level with Hungarian great Ferenc Pu𓄧ska in the chart for the all-time leading international scorers.
He also entered the top-five international goal-scorers' list. The Indian icon is just two goals behind Argenti🅷ne superstar Lionel Messi among active players list led by Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (117).
Late into the second half it wa♔s Brandon Fernandes who initiated t𝔉he move from the right and played a quick 1-2 with Roshan Singh before Manvir found the target. On song, India attacked on the counter and a cross from the right from Manvir was converted by Pandita.
More than eight hours before their face-off, both the teams confirmཧed the Asian Cup Finals berth, courtesy Palestine's 4-0 win over Philippines who were eliminated after finishing as the worst runners-up from the six groups.
Playing without any pre𓃲ssure, Stimac's side made two bold changes by bringing in 🐽Sahal Abdul Samad and Udanta Singh in the starting XI in place of Liston Colaco and Manvir.
