Asian Cup qualifiers exit leaves India with plenty to ponder

Loss to Singapore means India don’t make it to the tournament for the first time since it became a 24-team affair

Margao: Khalid Jamil inherited a qualifying campaign gone awry and could not repair it in two matches against Singapore. On the balance of play home and away, Singapore deserved the results (1-1; 2-1). It meant India could not achieve the “bare minimum” – which is what qualification to the Asian Cup finals has been defined by Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sunil Chhetri and Sandesh Jhingan. For the first time since it became a 24-team competition in 2019, India were not good enough for a seat at continental football’s high table.

File picture of Indian striker Sunil Chhetri ahead of the FIFA World Cup Asia qualifier match against Kuwait at Kolkata in June last year. (AFP)

Not being able to make it to Saudi Arabia in 2027 is a low that is on a par with being blanked out of the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup, the series defeat to Pakistan and the tour of Fiji where India played four and lost four both in 2005. But taken together with the absolute lack of atmosphere in a home match (2,036 was the official attendance figure), the uncertainty over the top league, Chhetri’s future and arguments about football being more frequent in the Supreme Court than at Salt Lake stadium, this feels worse.

To be sure, countries with more pedigree have failed to qualify for majors. Four-time world champions Italy have not played a World Cup since 2014. Thrice England have failed to qualify and the USA did not in 2018. Between 1998 and 2010, Iran played in only two iterations of the World Cup.

To be fair, as coach Manolo Marquez has pointed out, qualification for Asia was FC Goa’s primary goal when they won the Super Cup beating Jamil’s Jamshedpur FC 3-0. They did that beating Al-Seeb of Oman.

Winning the Super Cup and the qualifier gave FC Goa something to look forward to. You could not say that for most teams after a Supreme Court observation paused negotiations between All India Football Federation and its commercial partners. It meant no one knew when the top league will start, no one still does. Ditto the different tiers of I-League.

After the 1-2 defeat, India’s second in the campaign this year to a lower-ranked team, Jamil was asked why Brandon Fernandes, a Goan known for his ability to unlock defences, was not used before the 85th minute. “Because he has not played for months,” he said.

Did the lack of matches, absence of pre-season training at clubs, contribute to India being unable to make their domination count here on Tuesday? Did it lead to concentration levels slipping leading to Singapore’s goals? Players not getting enough games was a problem, said Jamil. “And then, there were those, the clubs didn’t release players.”

Brought down with a thud from the high of a CAFA Nations Cup bronze, Jamil will have to rebuild. It could start next month when India travel to Bangladesh but before that there may be a Chhetri-sized problem to deal with. After getting the best farewell an India footballer has had, Marquez persuaded Chhetri to come out of his retirement. His logic: a qualification campaign is not the time to experiment and with 16 goal contributions, Chhetri had had his best ISL season since 2017-18. One goal in a friendly in six matches since is proof that the gamble did not work.

Will Jamil look past Chhetri now? Will he try to ease in 18-year-old Pramveer Singh and build a central defensive partnership for the future with Anwar Ali? Will the 19-year-old forward Muhammad Suhail get game time? Consistency is a problem with Indian players and Jamil will need to be careful with emerging talent but these are questions for him to solve.

The question for AIFF to solve is ensuring matches for Jamil’s men. Beyond last-minute invitations, organising meaningful competition for a team outside Asia’s top 24 can be a challenge. The AIFF top brass is in Saudi Arabia this week for meetings and the awards night of the Asian Football Confederation. It could be a good time to start conversations for international windows from June to November next year.