World Cup Qualifiers: Toughest test awaits India in Iran

India’s footballers face their toughest test in the 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifiers when they take on Asia’s highest ranked side Iran, sans influential striker Sunil Chhetri, on Thursday.

India, ranked 160th, were dealt a body blow when Chhetri, the country’s highest scorer in international football, was ruled out with a groin injury just before the team boarded the flight to Tehran.

In Chhetri’s absence, the mantle of leading the side has fallen on the young shoulders of Jeje Lalpekhlua.

The Indians, whose campaign has been nothing short of a disaster, are last in their group and will have one home match against Turkmenistan on March 29 left after the Iran game.

A loss on Thursday against the Asian heavyweights, who are 44th in the current Fifa rankings, will also throw the Indians out of contention for a berth for the 2019 Asian Cup from this campaign, which also doubles up as the qualifying tournament for the continental showpiece.

Guam, who are currently fourth in Group D, are four points above India who will end at the bottom if they lose on Thursday.

India, who had also failed to qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup, will then have to play a separate play-offs round to book a berth for the final qualifying round of the 2019 edition.

Coach Stephen Constantine is aware that the game will stretch his team to the limit.

“Playing Iran in Iran is as tough as it can get. It’s like David vs Goliath on the field. Iran are the giants of Asia,” Constantine said at the pre-match media interaction.

The Briton, who is in his second stint with the team, added, “We have huge respect for Iran. We understand that we will be without the ball for most part of the match. We will try to stop them. We will fight and try to get something out from the match.”

Iran have consistently qualified for the World Cup and several of their established players either are, or have, played in Europe and some of the new ones are regularly in the news with premier European clubs expressing interest.

The trip down memory lane is not that encouraging for India, who last beat Iran in 1959.