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India’s Sunil Chhetri scored a wonder goal against Oman in their first Group D World Cup qualifier at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday night. With Oman leading 1-0 in the very first minute of the game, the Blue Tigers were under pressure to grab an equalizer.
In the 26th minute, India had the ball and were pressurizing the Oman defence in the final third. Squeezing through two defenders, Chhetri managed to open up some space for a brief moment and unleashed a curling effort on goal.
The ball sailed past the outstretched hands of former Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi before hitting the inside of the post and nestling into the back of the net, much to the delight of the near 20,000 strong crowd at the stadium and millions of Indians watching on television.
It was a goal worthy of the occasion as India look to qualify for the World Cup in 2018. But they were eventually outdone when they conceded a penalty which Oman converted. India lost 2-1 although a goal from a cleverly worked corner kick routine was wrongly ruled out for offside.
