What’s life after Sunil Chhetri going to look like? How about a do-or-die World Cup qualifier against reigning Asian champions Qatar in Doha to find out?
It’s a tall order for India head coach Igor Stimac and his team – win and the country qualifies for its first-ever World Cup Round 3 appearance. Draw, and the result of the match between Kuwait and Afghanistan dictates their fate. Lose, and crash out of the World Cup qualifiers, with very little as viable excuse as to what went wrong.
The three scenarios have come about after some catastrophic, yet predictable, performances by the national team in these World Cup qualifiers.
India would have felt disappointed at their AFC Asian Cup group, being lumped with Australia and Uzbekistan – two teams that consistently rank among Asia’s top-eight teams. But the World Cup qualifier draw gave hope. In a group with Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar, India had their best chance in a while to move into Round 3 of World Cup Qualifiers.
Even though they lost their opening game to Qatar, a late goal in Kuwait gave hope that two good results against Afghanistan could help India show some sign of progress. Instead, a disappointing draw at a neutral venue in Saudi Arabia, followed by a humbling loss in Guwahati to the Ashley Westwood-coached team saw those hopes crash. Then in Chhetri’s final international game, the team huffed and puffed to a goalless draw against Kuwait in Kolkata.
The third round of WCQs holds significance solely for the level of competition India would face. It would mean home and away games against some of Asia’s best. And while the team would most likely be overmatched in those encounters, the lessons that a young Indian team could possibly learn could be used to make vital improvements.
India, who haven’t scored a goal from open play in over 630 minutes of international football, are now required to conjure up a win against the Asian champions on their own turf in order to climb a level further in Asia. And even though Qatar has chosen to field a largely second-string team as they are already through to the next round, it’s nevertheless likely to be a stiff task for the away team on Tuesday.
Blaming the tools
After the goalless draw against Kuwait, Stimac was quick to blame his midfielders Anirudh Thapa and Sahal Abdul Samad. Throwing his players under the bus has become a constant feature of the Croatian’s tenure, especially over the last few WCQs.
“You could see that we couldn’t start dominating the game in the middle even though we started with Sahal and Thapa. I expected much more from them in the first half,” Stimac said in Kolkata after the game.
It is important to note that India had a full month’s camp prior to the game against Kuwait. It has been a hallmark of Stimac’s time at the helm that performances and results often take an upward curve after long camps. He has said this is due to the work on players’ fitness conducted during their time together.
But this time around, even a camp held according to Stimac’s specifications failed to bring the performance or result needed for India to make a debut in the third round of WCQs.
Tuesday’s match assumes added significance as Stimac has said that failure to advance would see his exit as India team coach.
Looking at the wider picture, Afghanistan, a team that has players scattered across the world but has managed to earn draws against Qatar and India in this group, who seem to have the best chance to go through to their debut third round appearance. And if results and performances are considered , in the backdrop of the Indian football ecosystem compared to what the Afghans have, they would deserve the progression if they can achieve it.
On the other hand, India have not shown the consistency or sustained quality to advance from the group as the second-best team, and the prospect of the encounter in Doha provides little hope of changing that.
