India eye win against Afghanistan for playoff spot at CAFA Nations Cup

India need a win against Afghanistan to qualify for the playoffs in a decisive group B clash of the CAFA Nations Cup 2025 at the Hisor Central Stadium, Tajikistan, on Thursday.

The top two teams in each group qualify for the playoffs with the two winners playing the final and the second-placed teams battling for the third place.

With two wins in a row, Iran have already qualified for the playoffs while India need three more points to be certain of qualification, ahead of hosts Tajikistan. A draw might still be enough, depending on what transpires in the second match of the day, but coach Khalid Jamil will not want to leave anything to chance.

“We are not thinking of all such scenarios at this point,” said Jamil. “We will go into the game looking for a win. It’s as simple as that.”

Afghanistan is the lowest-ranked side in the competition at 161 in the world, but have caused plenty of problems for India in the past. The clash between the two teams last year saw the visitors script a 2-1 win against India in Guwahati, a result that ended hopes of making it to the third round of the World Cup 2026 qualifiers and direct qualification to the AFC Asian Cup 2027.

With Jamil now in-charge, India have done well so far, starting with a 2-1 win against Tajikistan and a 3-0 loss against former Asian champions Iran, who scored twice late in the game. A big worry for India will be the absence of captain Sandesh Jhingan, who picked up an injury in the last game and has since returned home.

“I’ve never seen a player as brave as Sandesh. Even with the injury, he kept playing in the last match. Not many players can do that. We will definitely miss his presence. He’s a great motivator on and off the pitch for others. It’s difficult to find a replacement for him, but this also allows the others to step up,” said Jamil.

Jamil is likely to pair Rahul Bheke alongside Anwar Ali in central defence with Chinglensana Singh also an option.

Afghanistan are coached by Vincenzo Annese, no stranger to Indian football, having won back-to-back I-League titles with Gokulam Kerala in 2021 and 2022.