India will face Qatar in their last group-stage match on Tuesday at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium. 

Qatar is gearing up for its final FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 Preliminary Joint Qualification match against an Indian team hungry for revenge following their initial defeat.

Unbeaten in the group-stage matches, Qatar leads the group with a formidable 13 points from five games, setting up a challenging match for India.

The two teams first met in Bhubaneswar, India, earlier last year, where Qatar defeated the Igor Stimac side 3-0.

Since then, India has managed to survive in the group, sitting second with one win, two defeats, and two draws.

Stimac’s squad against Qatar on Tuesday will be missing veteran player Sunil Chhetri.

The legendary striker announced his retirement from international football earlier this month, marking the end of a two-decade career.

Chhetri, who holds both the all-time goalscoring and caps records for his country, said that the time has come to hang up his boots, just a few months short of celebrating his 40th birthday.

Following Chhetri’s retirement, Stimac has named veteran goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu as captain.

Sandhu, 32, is now the most experienced and longest-serving player in the national team, with 71 caps.

Qatar has already qualified for the third round of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifications while also nailing a spot at the upcoming Saudi Arabia AFC Asian Cup in 2027. 

Marquez Lopez’s side witnessed a break in this winning streak as they drew against Afghanistan earlier this month.

The Maroons, who defeated Afghanistan 8-1 in the first leg in November, fell far short of expectations this time around as their regular star players are absent from the team sheet.

Lopez has opted to rest Asian Cup stars Akram Afif and Almoez Ali, and instead has named a younger squad for this month’s qualifiers.

Veteran players Pedro Miguel, Meshaal Barsham, and Bassam Al-Rawi have been excluded, as Amir Hassan, Saad al-Sheeb, Mustafa Tariq, and Tahsin Mohammed have been selected for the upcoming international co-qualifier matches.