World Cup qualifiers, India vs Afghanistan: What changes could Igor Stimac make to Blue Tigers starting XI?

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Igor Stimac-led Indian football team has returned to India for their fourth World Cup qualifiers match against Afghanistan in Guwahati on Tuesday (March 26). The previous leg ended in a 0-0 draw and now India desperately need to win this return leg. They now need five points from their next three matches.

Considering their next two matches are against Kuwait and Qatar, their best bet is getting all three points in this match against Afghanistan. They almost had the entire squad barring Sahal Abdul Samad for the last match.

Sahal Abdul Samad sustained a hamstring injury during a training session before the match. India were the favourites going into that match, but they couldn't get the win. Coach Igor Stimac called up Vikram Pratap Singh in Sahal's place. Vikram couldn't entirely fill Sahal’s shoes and even missed some brilliant chances of scoring.

However, so did other regular players, like Manvir Singh and Subhasish Bose. The coach still took him off at the one hour mark and subbed in Brandon Fernandes. Hence, Brandon could start the match tomorrow instead of Vikram in the midfield.

On the other hand, Subhasish Bose could come back to the starting XI instead of Aksh Mishra on the left-back position. Afghanistan had a few good chances of putting India behind in the last match, but the Blue Tigers held on well.

However, Subhasish had a good impact on the game when he was also subbed in on one hour mark. Hence, he could be called in to start the match tomorrow. The Indian football team created several attacking chances in the last match.

Hence, even though the Blue Tigers couldn't score a goal, the attackers did a well enough job and it could remain the same. It's also the 150th international game for skipper Sunil Chhetri, so undoubtedly he will be leading the attack.