In the end, it worked out well for the Blue Tigers. Igor Stimac may have saved his job as well but it might turn out to be a temporary stay of execution for the Croatian. The display in phases leaves much to be desired, as India’s football was tedious at times, and unwatchable at its worst. Despite an 8th SAFF title, there is very little doubt that the men’s national team have regressed since they were narrowly knocked out of the 2019 Asian Cup group stages.
More importantly, the future post Sunil Chhetri – a question discussed many a time – looks as bleak as ever. His successors looked flat out of ideas at times, as the 37-year-old shoulders the responsibility of leading the line till date. Suresh Singh and Sahal Abdul Samad may have scored in the final but it would be premature to speculate on life beyond Chhetri.
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A low point
The draw against Sri Lanka must not be forgotten in the larger scheme of things. The islanders – 205th in the world – are a collection of semi-professional footballers and a draw against them surely represented a new low for the Blue Tigers.
This isn’t the first time that India had struggled against a semi-pro side – memories of the 2-1 loss to Guam in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers remain fresh. Stephen Constantine had managed to turn it around and qualified for the Asian Cup after a disastrous World Cup qualification campaign. Whether Stimac can emulate his predecessor remains to be seen.
The nature of India’s draw against Sri Lanka was more of a grave concern. There were shots aplenty, but barring a point-blank miss from Subhasish Bose, there were no alarm bell moments for the Lankans. India’s opening draw against Bangladesh was also chaotic as their opponents dominated the match after going a man down.
Players hiding behind coach?
Stimac has come under tremendous flak for his tactics and rightly so. His tactics at times have been a bit bizarre, in a tournament where India were supposed to dominate. It must be remembered that the last time India played this tournament, they participated with their U23 team and narrowly lost to the Maldives in the final. With the senior team struggling this time around, is this triumph a celebratory one for a team looking to make the Asian Cup?
The players though have largely escaped censure in the media storm surrounding the coach and his tactical acumen. Barring Chhetri and Lalengmawia ‘Apuia’ Ralte, there have been hardly any standout performances from the side as a whole or as individuals.
ALSO READ: Indian Men’s Football Team Dedicate 8th SAFF Title to ‘Team Spirit’
The team looks much better when Anirudh Thapa plays but the Chennaiyin midfielder has to contend with a spot on the bench many a time. Brandon Fernandes, surely the side’s most creative player and the standout Indian midfielder in the league for 3 years, has to fight for scraps as the coach continues preferring Suresh Singh. Sahal scored in the final but his role has been limited to a substitute and looks set to continue for the foreseeable future.
The fact that the midfield looks unsettled and short of creativity remains no secret, as the coach is yet to nail down a starting trio in the middle of the park. Rowllin Borges appears to have been completely frozen out of the National Team, as has been Lallinzuala Chhangte – both protagonists of the Constantine renaissance.
The revolving door of players extends to the defence as well, as Bose finished a miserable tournament on a low note by getting sent off. Pritam Kotal continues at centre back, but the Bengali has never truly been comfortable at that position. He plays as a right-sided centre-back in a back 3 for ATKMB under Antonio Habas – a far-cry from playing as part of a pairing for the national team. Chinglensana Singh has committed a couple of high profile errors directly leading to goals and will continue at centre-back, presumably till Sandesh Jhingan returns to take his rightful place. But the latter’s lack of game time in Croatia will remain a huge concern with the final round of Asian Cup qualifiers approaching.
The biggest problem for Stimac remains the attack. In the absence of Brandon’s deliveries and his incisive passing, Stimac is dependent on his wide men to deliver balls to Chhetri. Manvir Singh may have ended his 16 game goalless drought but his poor performances haven’t gone unnoticed by the fans and even technical committee chairman Shyam Thapa.
Udanta Singh remains a figure unable to influence matches while the clamour for the best Indian winger from last season Jerry Mawihmingthanga continues. His continued absence from the team has been put down to a lack of tracking back according to sources in the know, but in a team bereft of creativity, surely his prolonged non-selection has created more problems than it has solved.
The Asian Cup
The aim has to be to qualify for the 2023 Asian Cup, after which Sunil Chhetri is expected to step away from the national team. India have never managed to qualify for successive editions of the Asian Cup and despite scoring 6 goals in 2 matches, they will face an uphill task in the qualifiers.
Last time, a final qualification group of Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Macau was fortuitous for a team – credit where it’s due – had played very well for the better part of 2 years. The team heading into the previous Asian Cup had looked sharper, hungrier and fitter than the current crop.
This time struggles against some of the world’s poorest sides have raised more uncomfortable questions for the coach and the technical committee who will surely act if India fail to make it to 2023. Chhetri will be determined to end his international career on a high but circumstances and a team in transition might deny the talismanic Bengaluru FC striker the swansong he richly deserves. For now, there’s a lot of work to be done by both team India and Igor Stimac.
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