With one sleeping giant of Asian football now very much awake, could the other be roused in time for the 2019 Asian Cup?
With China making the AFC Asian Cup knockout stages for the first time in more than a decade at the 2015 tournament in Australia, India’s newly-appointed head coach Stephen Constantine would simply love to qualify for the next edition in four years’ time.
“There is tremendous potential for India to improve and become a real player in Asia,” Constantine said. “A great deal has to be done, but I would like to think that we could get there as qualifying for big events is a priority.”
India played in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup under Englishman Bob Houghton after winning the now defunct Challenge Cup that gave developing football nations a second chance. But their hopes of making it to the 2019 tournament have been helped by the expansion of the tournament from 16 to 24 teams.
London-born Constantine is back for his second stint with India, having been in charge for three years between 2002 and 2005 when he helped them to their first international tournament win in 42 years at the 2002 LG Cup in Vietnam.
He was appointed last week after being chosen from a shortlist alongside ex-New Zealand and Wellington Phoenix head coach Ricki Herbert. Dutchman Wim Koevermans resigned in October after a string of disappointing results.
“I think Indian football has made good steps in recent years but when you look at the current FIFA ranking of 171 that is very disappointing,” Constantine said. “We were not that low 10 years ago [he took them to a best ever 109th] so there is obviously something not quite right.”
In his decade away from Indian football, the 52-year-old has held six different coaching jobs. Three of them have been in charge of African national teams — Malawi, Sudan and, most recently, Rwanda, where he achieved qualification for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, only to see them disqualified because one of their players was deemed ineligible.
Even so, he remains a hero in the eastern African nation, having lifted the Wasps to their highest ever FIFA ranking of 68 last December.
He also had a season as first team coach at Millwall in the English second tier in 2005-2006, working with Chelsea legend Ray Wilkins, the manager of Jordan at the Asian Cup. He’s also coached two clubs in Cyprus — he’s of Cypriot-Greek origin — and worked in the Greek Super League.
“It really has been an education that you can not get on any coaching course,” he said. “You learn from every job, take the good with the bad and use it to your advantage. India will be familiar in some ways yet completely different in others.”
Constantine is excited by football’s increase in popularity thanks to the Indian Super League (ISL). The inaugural edition, run from October to December last year, attracted a total attendance over more than one-point-five million fans and an average crowd of 26,505.
“The ISL showed the world that India plays football and the growing interest,” he said. “We now need to take this forward for the betterment of the national team. There has been great improvement in the technical quality of local players but we need to develop the whole package.”
When India appeared in the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar, they were outclassed over three group matches, conceding 13 goals and scoring just three.
In 2014, they played only two international matches at senior level, drawing 2-2 with Bangladesh in March and losing 3-2 at home to Palestine in October, which led to Koevermans’ departure.
In the decade that Constantine has been away, India have had six different coaches, including the highly respected Houghton — a close friend of England boss Roy Hodgson — who held the post for five years. By going back to Constantine rather than a big-name manager, they are taking an economical yet tried-and-tested approach. Sources tell ESPN FC that the All India Football Federation (AIFF) will pay Constantine around $20,000 dollars per month.
He is wise enough not to make any bold ambitious predictions beyond improving India’s lowly FIFA ranking. But Constantine agrees that the recent progress made by Alain Perrin’s Chinese side shows what is possible.
“In the beginning China had many problems and were doing things for show rather then for the development,” he said. “Once China realised that they needed a good, solid league, they needed consistency, and above all structure, you are now seeing success. I am not surprised by China’s results as there are no secrets in football anymore.”
Constantine will arrive in Delhi next month and will also oversee the U-23 side.
While they say it is never wise to go back to an old ‘love’, this much travelled Londoner is hoping that it will be a joyous reunion that could carry the Blue Tigers to Asia’s biggest stage in four years time.
Jason Dasey is Senior Editor of ESPN FC and the former host of SportsCenter India and Sportsline .
