AFC Asian Cup 2019: India can not afford to repeat the post-2011 debacle after the departure of Stephen Constantine

The dust still echoes India's terrible Asian Cup exit of the 2019 African Football Cup (AFC), with the resignation of head coach Stephen Constantine.

After having promised so much in the continental competition with a historic 4-1 win over Thailand in their first campaign game, Constantine and his men were given low defeats against hosts from the UAE and Bahrain to reach the bottom of their group.

While the goal of the injury, conceded in Bahrain, will hurt the future, the Blue Tigers can draw some positive points from their display, especially their performance in the second half against Thailand.

While Constantine ends in tears his second Indian coaching job, the all-Indian Football Federation (AIFF) and Indian football stakeholders have an important decision to make in the near future.

However, they can not afford to make the same mistakes after the end of the Bob Houghton era in 2011.

Houghton saw India score 13 goals in three live group matches of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, with the Blue Tigers barely threatening a threat before sinking into the competition.

The AIFF team has ended its five-year stay prematurely even though India qualifies for the AFC Challenge Cup. The governing body refused to hire another foreign coach to install Armando Colaco as the acting head coach following Houghton's departure.

Colaco's brief term helped India to beat Qatar in an unofficial friendly, but his stint was interrupted by AIFF after the team lost to the UAE in the playoffs of the Cup. FIFA World Cup 2014.

Former badistant coach Savio Madeira has finally been appointed coach for India and Dutchman Rob Baan has been appointed technical director.

Under Madeira, India won the 2011 SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) championship but failed miserably at the AFC Challenge Cup held in 2012, when it lost all three matches without scoring a single one. goal.

As India's hopes of qualifying for the 2015 Asian Cup are over, AIFF has offered Madeira the kickoff. A stranger was again brought to the bar in the form of Wim Koevermans.

Under the Dutch duet Baan and Koevermans, Indian football has plunged into new depths. The FIFA team's ranking dropped to 173 after a barren period that included a poor 2013 SAFF Cup performance as well as the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup playoffs.

India U23 had even lost to Pakistan U23 in Bengaluru in a friendly match.

In the equally unfortunate Asian Games of 2014 in Incheon, South Korea, Koevermans was finally relieved of duty before Constantine returned for a second stint. The Dutchman was perhaps the worst coach of India in the twenty-first century.

A series of bad decisions and appointments summed up the state of Indian football after Houghton's departure with a lack of clear and consistent vision at the top hurting the major team.

By the end of Houghton's reign, India had a promising youth core on the national team, but its full potential was in the next three or four years, culminating in the fall of Koevermans.

After the last exit of Constantine, India is at about the same crossroads as in 2011. If veteran Sunil Chhetri could have played his last major tournament in the colors of India, the bulk of the 2011 team is in the 23-27 age group.

As such, the core group of players could still remain a few more years. The bases of the next coach have already been asked by Constantine. A clear vision must be adopted by the highest honors of Indian football to maintain the little momentum that has been created recently.

What India now needs is a coach who can take full advantage of the potential that it represents, especially with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon. , where eight AFC countries will be qualified. Qualification for the AFC Asian Cup should become a standard for India after the progress made over the last three years.

Lessons must be learned from the post-Houghton era debacle, although India is first and foremost in the post-Constantine era.