AIFF Requests FIFA Probe into Qatar's Contentious Goal in World Cup Qualifier
In order to begin an investigation into the contentious goal that Qatar scored in the World Cup qualifying match, the AIFF has written to both FIFA and the AFC.
The FIFA World Cup qualifier between Qatar and India on Tuesday saw a lot of controversy after the latter team was given the goal in the 73rd minute even though it was clearly outside the field of play. Yousef Ayem attempted a header after Abdullah Alahrak of Qatar won a free kick with India leading 1-0. Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, the goalkeeper and captain of India, made the save, however the ball seemed to cross the line while he was still on the ground.
Hashmi Hussein kicked the ball back into play as Sandhu watched, allowing Aymen to score. Sandhu was the last player to touch the ball, therefore even though it had gone out of play and should have been a corner kick, the referee controversially gave Qatar the goal. The Indian players expressed their displeasure greatly when the ruling was upheld despite their forceful protests.
After the incident, which caused a lot of controversy on social media, Qatar rallied to win the match 2-1 and guarantee India's elimination from the qualifying round. Following the event, Asian Football Confederation (AIFF) President Kalyan Chaubey released a strongly worded statement stating that the federation has written to FIFA and the AFC (Asian Football Confederation) requesting an investigation into the incident.
"We have learnt to accept victory and defeat as inevitable aspects of the game, even though one of the two goals we scored against India last night raised some unanswered questions." Regarding the serious supervisory error that nearly lost us a spot in the FIFA World Cup qualifying round three, we have written to the match commissioner, the AFC head of competitions, the FIFA head of qualifiers, and the AFC head of referees," Chaubey said.
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