India vs Kuwait FIFA World Cup Second Round Qualifier Preview
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| Courtesy: PTI |
Kuwait’s story in football has been marked by an unprecedented rise to the top, Championing Asia within 19 years of their first ever International match, an even Qualification to the FIFA World Cup in 1982.
However, after such incredible performances, it only has been a slow downfall from the top, with their neighbours leapfrogging them in terms of quality and the National team not being even eligible to play at multiple occasions due to FIFA bans coming as a result of Governmental interference in the FA.
Kuwait’s tryst with the beautiful game is too fascinating to be just looked upon superficially. It requires a detailed description of exactly how this minuscule country which one needs to squint their eyes to spot in the world map became a giant of Asian football, and how it all fell down, how the sociopolitics and changing culture of the country affected football and vice versa, and how optimistic one can be in regards to their future.
Thus, this match preview of Kuwait’s encounter against India will be followed with a complete deep dive into Football in Kuwait in a separate article. This Preview will contain an overlook into the qualities, strengths and weaknesses of the Kuwaiti and Indian players most likely to be featuring on June 6 at the very Mecca of Indian Football itself, followed by what went right and wrong for both teams in their previous encounter which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Blue Tigers.
Kuwait couldn’t find the back of the net in their latest encounter against India. They really didn’t get more than two or three dangerous chances but those too very handled pretty well by the Indian defense. The Defensive midfield pivot of Suresh Wangjam and Apuia did well to cover the Center Backs and ward off some long ranger attempts.
Monitoring long range efforts will be crucial in the upcoming encounter as Kuwait has taken a lot of lessons from their defeat at home and will be trying new things out. This time around there will be no Apuia as he is busy giving his University exams, whereas Suresh Wangjam, although a favourite of head coach Igor Stimac, has not really performed well this season to be an unquestionable starter.
Jeakson Singh and Anirudh Thapa may more likely form the midfield defensive duo, along with Sahal Abdul Samad at attacking mid. Midfielders properly tracking and blocking off mpassing angles of advancing Kuwaiti Center Backs and midfielders will be quite crucial.
In the previous encounter, Right Back Fahad Al-Hajeri inverted and joined in attack multiple times, although his lack of pace to sustain counters might take him out of the team. It was from his side that India scored the lone goal of the match, where Subhashish found Chhangte through a narrow gap and Manvir slotted in his grounded cross. Instead a more traditional full back like Meshari Ghanam.
Kuwait arranged themselves in a 4-3-3 with Mohsen Ghareeb in left mid, Athbi Saleh in right mid and Reda Hani in center mid. Mohsen and Athbi prefer to stay mostly on wider regions and join attack but can also go central when needed, which wasn’t seen much as India under Igor Stimac don’t prefer to attack centrally. Reda Hani serves as a ball distributor and defensive assurance.
Kuwaiti center backs Sultan Al-Enezi and Hassan Hamdan Al-Enezi are quite physically adept and love to carry the ball forward. Hamdan can send dangerous lobbed passes to the flank while Sultan is quite positionally adept when it comes to meeting crosses arielly, his height advantage having a significant role in winning ariel duels.
Kuwait’s attack features the likes of Mohammad Ghanam, who loves to exploit the half spaces and possesses a very accurate long shot to his boots, the omnipresent hardworking Ahmad Zanki who was quite threatening against India after coming on as a substitute, Mobarak Al-Faneni who operates from the right channels and Center Forward Shabib Al-Khaldi who can drop down too when needed.
After getting exposed on multiple occasions in defense, Kuwait might even try out a midfield more similar to India this time around with two defensive minded midfielders covering the half spaces while the more traditional full backs can get more wide to prevent the plethora of Indian crosses.
Other Kuwaiti players to watch out for, regardless of whether they make it to the squad, would be Midfielders Eid Nasser Al Rashedi and Ali Khalaf, Defenders Abdullah Ammar and Saleb Masoud Al Athbi and Goalkeeper Bader Al-Saanoun.
The Indian attack will, for the final time, have trusty old Sunil Chhetri at Center Forward. What happens against Qatar now, with him gone, will be an interesting equation to look at. Manvir Singh missed opportunities against Afghanistan, but his hold up play and dribbling in the wings is one of the best in the team, hence it will be a headache for Stimac to whether start Chhangte over him who has been exceptional this ISL 23/24.
Naorem Mahesh as always will find his deserving place from the left, with Liston Colaco’s explosive acclerations and close controlled dribbling will prove effective as a substitute appearance when the Kuwaiti full backs will be tired.
Defensively, Akash Mishra is out due to injury, hence the dependable and defensively adept Subhashish Bose is expected to start. The Center Back pairing in most likeliness has to be between Rahul Bheke and Anwar Ali while Nikhil Poojary probably will start at Right Back. It can be argued Ranawade and Jay Gupta can be tried out as full backs but Stimac is known to be fairly conservative with his choices.
Also two I-League players have surprisingly found a place in the final squad and they are forwards David and Edmund from Mohammedan and Inter Kashi respectively. It is reported that Edmund has performed exceptionally in the camp and Igor Stimac has been very impressed.
India played brilliantly against Kuwait last time around. They exploited the weakness of Kuwait’s full backs who allowed them to cross from wide regions, in part due to India not having a tall striker in the box and Kuwait’s CB duo being good at anticipating and winning duels. But that backfired as India scored in a counter where the pass from the wing was grounded.
However, the Indian National Football Team has struggled a lot lately. The embarrassing loss against Afghanistan where the Indian fans with Guwahati joined in with the Afghans to do a Viking Clap in protest of the lackluster intent-less passive approach of the Blue Tigers was one of the lowest points in the recent history of Indian Football.
Thus, with Kuwait recently only losing 2-1 to Qatar and defeating the Afghans 4-0 too should serve as a cautionary tell to Igor Stimac and his boys to not be casual in their approach. After all, it is the final game of Sunil Chhetri in National Colours, and this along with the possible 50000+ fans present at Kolkata on June 6 should serve as enough of a psychological boost for the off-colour National Team. With the release of the comparatively better new jerseys, hopefully that will bring back the fervour and restore the vibrancy of the Blue Tigers.
However, after such incredible performances, it only has been a slow downfall from the top, with their neighbours leapfrogging them in terms of quality and the National team not being even eligible to play at multiple occasions due to FIFA bans coming as a result of Governmental interference in the FA.
Kuwait’s tryst with the beautiful game is too fascinating to be just looked upon superficially. It requires a detailed description of exactly how this minuscule country which one needs to squint their eyes to spot in the world map became a giant of Asian football, and how it all fell down, how the sociopolitics and changing culture of the country affected football and vice versa, and how optimistic one can be in regards to their future.
Thus, this match preview of Kuwait’s encounter against India will be followed with a complete deep dive into Football in Kuwait in a separate article. This Preview will contain an overlook into the qualities, strengths and weaknesses of the Kuwaiti and Indian players most likely to be featuring on June 6 at the very Mecca of Indian Football itself, followed by what went right and wrong for both teams in their previous encounter which ended in a 1-0 victory for the Blue Tigers.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞! 💙🤝🏼
— Indian Football Team (@IndianFootball) June 5, 2024
Our new profile picture.
Let’s join in to celebrate our Captain, Leader, Legend. #ThankYouSC11 #FIFAWorldCup 🏆 #BlueTigers 🐯 #IndianFootball ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/Nr8P75o5gt
Kuwait couldn’t find the back of the net in their latest encounter against India. They really didn’t get more than two or three dangerous chances but those too very handled pretty well by the Indian defense. The Defensive midfield pivot of Suresh Wangjam and Apuia did well to cover the Center Backs and ward off some long ranger attempts.
Monitoring long range efforts will be crucial in the upcoming encounter as Kuwait has taken a lot of lessons from their defeat at home and will be trying new things out. This time around there will be no Apuia as he is busy giving his University exams, whereas Suresh Wangjam, although a favourite of head coach Igor Stimac, has not really performed well this season to be an unquestionable starter.
Jeakson Singh and Anirudh Thapa may more likely form the midfield defensive duo, along with Sahal Abdul Samad at attacking mid. Midfielders properly tracking and blocking off mpassing angles of advancing Kuwaiti Center Backs and midfielders will be quite crucial.
In the previous encounter, Right Back Fahad Al-Hajeri inverted and joined in attack multiple times, although his lack of pace to sustain counters might take him out of the team. It was from his side that India scored the lone goal of the match, where Subhashish found Chhangte through a narrow gap and Manvir slotted in his grounded cross. Instead a more traditional full back like Meshari Ghanam.
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| Kuwait's one of many on the ball structures where Right Back (no. 5) is in between two forwards, there is no central presence and one CB is in an advanced position too (Courtesy: Sony Liv YT) |
Kuwait arranged themselves in a 4-3-3 with Mohsen Ghareeb in left mid, Athbi Saleh in right mid and Reda Hani in center mid. Mohsen and Athbi prefer to stay mostly on wider regions and join attack but can also go central when needed, which wasn’t seen much as India under Igor Stimac don’t prefer to attack centrally. Reda Hani serves as a ball distributor and defensive assurance.
Kuwaiti center backs Sultan Al-Enezi and Hassan Hamdan Al-Enezi are quite physically adept and love to carry the ball forward. Hamdan can send dangerous lobbed passes to the flank while Sultan is quite positionally adept when it comes to meeting crosses arielly, his height advantage having a significant role in winning ariel duels.
Kuwait’s attack features the likes of Mohammad Ghanam, who loves to exploit the half spaces and possesses a very accurate long shot to his boots, the omnipresent hardworking Ahmad Zanki who was quite threatening against India after coming on as a substitute, Mobarak Al-Faneni who operates from the right channels and Center Forward Shabib Al-Khaldi who can drop down too when needed.
After getting exposed on multiple occasions in defense, Kuwait might even try out a midfield more similar to India this time around with two defensive minded midfielders covering the half spaces while the more traditional full backs can get more wide to prevent the plethora of Indian crosses.
Other Kuwaiti players to watch out for, regardless of whether they make it to the squad, would be Midfielders Eid Nasser Al Rashedi and Ali Khalaf, Defenders Abdullah Ammar and Saleb Masoud Al Athbi and Goalkeeper Bader Al-Saanoun.
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| Kuwait likes to defend in numbers (Courtesy: Sony Liv YT) |
The Indian attack will, for the final time, have trusty old Sunil Chhetri at Center Forward. What happens against Qatar now, with him gone, will be an interesting equation to look at. Manvir Singh missed opportunities against Afghanistan, but his hold up play and dribbling in the wings is one of the best in the team, hence it will be a headache for Stimac to whether start Chhangte over him who has been exceptional this ISL 23/24.
Naorem Mahesh as always will find his deserving place from the left, with Liston Colaco’s explosive acclerations and close controlled dribbling will prove effective as a substitute appearance when the Kuwaiti full backs will be tired.
Defensively, Akash Mishra is out due to injury, hence the dependable and defensively adept Subhashish Bose is expected to start. The Center Back pairing in most likeliness has to be between Rahul Bheke and Anwar Ali while Nikhil Poojary probably will start at Right Back. It can be argued Ranawade and Jay Gupta can be tried out as full backs but Stimac is known to be fairly conservative with his choices.
Also two I-League players have surprisingly found a place in the final squad and they are forwards David and Edmund from Mohammedan and Inter Kashi respectively. It is reported that Edmund has performed exceptionally in the camp and Igor Stimac has been very impressed.
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| India vs Kuwait Possible Lineups |
India played brilliantly against Kuwait last time around. They exploited the weakness of Kuwait’s full backs who allowed them to cross from wide regions, in part due to India not having a tall striker in the box and Kuwait’s CB duo being good at anticipating and winning duels. But that backfired as India scored in a counter where the pass from the wing was grounded.
However, the Indian National Football Team has struggled a lot lately. The embarrassing loss against Afghanistan where the Indian fans with Guwahati joined in with the Afghans to do a Viking Clap in protest of the lackluster intent-less passive approach of the Blue Tigers was one of the lowest points in the recent history of Indian Football.
Thus, with Kuwait recently only losing 2-1 to Qatar and defeating the Afghans 4-0 too should serve as a cautionary tell to Igor Stimac and his boys to not be casual in their approach. After all, it is the final game of Sunil Chhetri in National Colours, and this along with the possible 50000+ fans present at Kolkata on June 6 should serve as enough of a psychological boost for the off-colour National Team. With the release of the comparatively better new jerseys, hopefully that will bring back the fervour and restore the vibrancy of the Blue Tigers.
