#TFGtake: Constantine contract extension: Why should there even be a doubt?

DOWN AND SINKING: was the state of Indian senior men’s national football team, when Stephen Constantine was handed charge of the team in his second spell.

In January 2015, Englishman Stephen Constantine started a new tenure with the Indian team and his first assignment was the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. India slumped to an exit early and even finished rock bottom of the group which consisted of Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan and Guam.

In between a feeble-looking WC qualifiers campaign, South Asian Football Federation Cup (SAFF) was up next for the Indian national team. SAFF was a tournament where India had done well in the past and was expected to continue. This tournament was to be a game-changer for Stephen Constantine and his team. India were crowned the 2015 SAFF Champions beating a tough oppponent like Afghanistan in the final.

Listen to Sunil Chhetri’s account of India’s comeback in the SAFF final to win in dramatic fashion

Changes ushered in

The Englishman had a thorough look at the composition of the Indian team and decided it needed some digging to shape it according to his vision. A change that took a while to take effect but is already reaping the long-term benefits. Constantine drastically brought down the average age of the squad from over 30 to just above 25. Having younger players in the camps meant the senior players had to fight to prove their worth.

The policy of rotation of captains in non-competitive game had a sense of responsibility being thrown at players.

Sports Science being applied in training with the introduction of a sports scientist. The team needed to have an edge over more tactical and physical opponents and the training incorporated the same.

With younger players being brought in, there was an impetus for a few of them to break-through into the senior team. Looking at not just I-League, the gaffer cast his scouting net at Santosh Trophy matches and other university-level players as well.

Breaking the 100 barrier

FIFA World men’s football team rank of India, was a distant 171 at the start of year 2015.  After a successful SAFF campaign, Constantine went on to gradually infuse freshness into the squad and over time, it did pay off. Setting up friendlies with the higher-ranked countries and performing well had dual benefits; chance to earn big FIFA points and good match-practice. There were calculated risks involved as losing to teams would mean a further drop in FIFA rankings. But the benefits of doing well outweighed the risks. One such friendly game was Puerto Rico. India won the game convincingly 4-1.

India ended 2016 with FIFA rank of 135; best annual rank in six years

As India looked to qualify for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Constantine aimed to have the team play a friendly before every Asian Cup qualifier. So from the start of the year 2017, the Indian team played Cambodia as the first friendly in pre-AFC match preparatory game

With raking up wins in the matches of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers coupled with wins in friendly games, India’s FIFA rank touched 100 in June 2017. India’s best ever ranking has been 94 and in July 2017, India broke into the top 100 and landed in the 96^th place of world men’s football.

India, under Stephen Constantine, had qualified for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup and remained undefeated till the final game of the 2017 calendar year. That was India’s second AFC Asian Cup stint in eight years, the last being in Doha in 2011.

Constantine always stressed that he was creating the team for the next three to four years and with a look at the team composition, he surely has set up the foundation to engineer it forward.

Taking into account the far-sighted vision with which Constantine was able to build a squad which is young, fighting and delivering and at same time, from being down and sinking to rising and staying up there, Stephen truly deserves to be in charge of the team for another term.

Get the latest in the world of Sports, Teams, and Players! Free Delivery to your Inbox.