India face a must-win situation at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium on Thursday.

India and Kuwait will be looking to keep their 2026 World Cup qualification hopes alive when they face off on Thursday. Hosts India sit second in Group A of the Asian qualifiers, with four points, one ahead of bottom placed Kuwait. Apart from these qualifiers leading to the 2026 World Cup, they’ll also be key to the 2027 Asian Cup qualification. It is a tight race for the remaining slot to qualify for the third round, with leaders Qatar having raced away with top spot. After four rounds, India have failed to build on their opening win over Kuwait, losing two of the three matches that came afterwards. Right before this encounter, they suffered a 2-1 home loss to Afghanistan, letting go of the lead courtesy of Sunil Chhetri’s goal. Chhetri will also be a man in focus here, as he plays for India for the final time. The India skipper, 39, has featured 150 times and scored 94 goals. India will count on his experience; the team having gone winless in the last six matches. The Blue Tigers have also failed to score in five of the last six matches, and have three straight losses at home.

Kuwait aren’t doing much better either, and coming here, they will be looking to avenge their home defeat to India. They haven't had great matches against India’ though they won 9-1 in their first encounter back in 2010. Since then these two sides have met three times (all in 2023) and Kuwait haven't won any. Heading into this encounter, Kuwait haven't managed a win in their last four matches, losing all. In their most recent, they fell 2-1 at home to group leaders Qatar. That loss marked a fourth straight game in which they conceded two or more goals, and they failed to score in two of the last three. A 4-0 victory over Afghanistan stands as the only time they avoided defeat in the last six matches. It is also their only clean sheet in the last 11 matches while things aren’t rosy away from home either.

India vs Kuwait stream and TV listing

Iraq: Play Sports

Fiji: Sky Sport 7

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