Bengaluru, October 29: About 100 Indians were allegedly not allowed entry into the Al Arabi Stadium in Doha to watch the friendly between the Under-19 teams of Qatar and India on Saturday (October 28).
"100s of Indian fans locked out... Policeman says it's as per request of Indian team," Ahmed Hashim, a Qatari-based writer, posted on Twitter. He later added: "Turns out that the policeman was wrong/lying. Source says it was the Qatar coach's request."
100s of Indian fans locked out of U-19 friendly b/w Qatar & India. Policeman says it's as per request of the Indian team. @fni pic.twitter.com/mvil7LAA60
— Ahmed Hashim (@AhmedH_93) October 28, 2017
Generally, the number of Indian fans outnumber the supporters for the home team in the gulf country, which will host the 2022 World Cup. It could have prompted the Qatar team, coached by Roberto Aranzabal, to bar visitors and play the match under closed doors. However, Hashim pointed out that there have been India vs Qatar matches in the past too in Doha, where the Indian fans were always larger in number than the Qataris.
Another reason could be that the Qatari team management wanted to avoid opponents studying the team's tactics ahead of the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers.
Yet, Aspire Academy, one of Qatar's most popular sports facilities, later posted the video of the goal scored by Khaled Mohammed Saleh during India's 0-1 loss. Khaled pounced on a weak back pass by an Indian defender to score the only goal of the game in the 12th minute.
Watch📽️ | ⚽️🇶🇦 @__keybinm's goal against @IndianFootball 🇮🇳in the last #QatarU19 friendly ahead of the #AFCU19 Qualifiers starting next week pic.twitter.com/Hx7QsUKEoa
— Aspire Academy (@Aspire_Academy) October 29, 2017
The friendly was part of India's preparations for the AFC Under-19 Championships Qualifying Round in Saudi Arabia from November 4. Placed in Group D along with Saudi, Yemen and Turkmenistan, India face the hosts in their first game.
Thirteen players from the Indian U-17 World Cup team are part of the U-19 side. The likes of Dheeraj Singh, Sanjeev Stalin, Anwar Ali and Jeakson Singh have been named in the squad. Forward Aniket Jadhav and playmaker Komal Thatal, however, have missed out.