Yet another dark night for Indian football

India had begun the qualifying for the 2026 World Cup with a lot of optimism. But over the last week, these have vanished into thin air.

In this international break, India had a double header against lowly Afghanistan, where they were expected to win both games.

After a drab scoreless draw away on Thursday, India somehow managed to make it even worse at home, falling to a 2-1 loss after having taken the lead.

Never for once in the two games did India look anywhere near comfortable, not even when they led through Sunil Chhetri's penalty yesterday.

Igor Stimac's job is on the line now, with the team being subjected to chants of 'Sack Stimac' after the game.

However perhaps the most gloomy part of this is the fact that Afghanistan were without a lot of their best XI. The Indian players earn salaries multiple times that of their Afghani counterparts but they rarely ever show that while playing for their country.