Guam win a relief for India, Constantine

Robin Singh scored the goal of his life, a neat side-step, followed by a sizzling, rising right footer to salvage India’s pride in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. This narrow 1-0 win avenged the 1-2 loss to Guam on June 16 and halted a sequence of five successive defeats. It also curbed the chorus of demands on social media for national coach Stephen Constantine to step down.

When Wim Kovermans resigned as national coach last year, many famous names were in contention for the job, including the legendary Zico and New Zealand’s 2010 World Cup coach, Richard Herbert. Both had coached in India. Zico had made FC Goa, one of the most attractive, attacking teams in the inaugural Indian Soccer League. Herbert’s stint with North East United had also made him aware of Indian conditions.

Zico was the favourite for the job but his demands of Rs 75 lakh per month were excessive. The All India Football Federation rightly felt considering the talent available for the senior national team, no coach could work miracles.

They decided to cut costs and focus on improving India’s age group teams by giving them regular training camps and exposure. Hence they chose Stephen Constantine, who had coached India from 2002 to 2004 and whose salary demands were not excessive.

The AIFF had made it clear that even if India had lost their home match to Guam, Constantine would not have been sacked. They realised that he was re-building the team and needed time. However six successive losses would have embarrassed Constantine and he may have quit on his own.

The victory at Bengaluru has thus salvaged both India and Constantine’s pride. India’s worst sequence of losses was under the Czech Republic coach Jiri Pesek in the 1993 World Cup qualifiers. In May-June 1993, India lost six matches on the trot, twice to South Korea, twice to Bahrain and once each to Lebanon and Hong Kong. However in 1993 India had no home matches. To cut costs, the World Cup qualifiers in those days were played at two venues, Beirut and Seoul.

Constantine can also be pleased that after constant experimentation, his playing XI now has a settled look. Since he took over, in January 2015, he has frequently changed the team and given 18 players their international debut. But now the defence looks settled and compact, with Pritam Kotal and Narayan Das as full backs and Arnab Mondal and Sandesh Jhingan as central defenders. After being reduced to 10 men (rash tackle by midfielder Shehnaj Singh in the 41st minute), the defence commendably withstood sustained pressure from Guam.

Gurpreet Sandhu’s composure and confidence has increased rapidly with his stint in the Norwegian league. For the last three matches he is India’s goalkeeper and has replaced previous incumbent Subrata Paul. Midfielders Eugenson Lyngdoh, Shehnaj, Cavin Lobo and Harmanjot Khabra showed exemplary work rate and created quick counter attacks for Robin and Sunil Chettri. Constantine’s team for the future has arrived.

India can now hopefully beat Turkmenistan in their last home match on March 29, 2016 and thus finish with six points. This tally should enable them to reach the qualification rounds of the expanded 2019 Asian Cup.