Tuesday night saw India losing 1-0 away to Oman, and it has virtually ended their chances of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup. While India put in a decent second-half performance, they once again failed to make their rare goal-scoring chances count.
As a result, India has found themselves in fourth-place in the Second Round Group E of the FIFA World Cup Asian qualifiers. So is it all over for India’s World Cup aspirations, or should they be looking ahead to other tournaments like the 2023 Asian Cup and beyond?
Reasons To Be Optimistic
Despite India’s lack of form, it is evident that it’s not all over for the team. They can still qualify for the next round of the 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers if they manage to finish third in their group. At the moment, they have the likes of Qatar, Oman and Afghanistan ahead of them.
Given the way that India came back against Oman in the second half, it shows that it’s not really a bad idea to bet on India to succeed in this challenge. Many people are already using a number of betting sites for placing sports bets in India, offering great odds for India to be a part of the 2023 Asian Cup.
While the Indian head coach, Igor Stimac, has had his fair share of critics, he is undoubtedly helping the India team play some real football. With just five goals conceded in their World Cup qualifiers, he has helped fix a notoriously leaky defence. Although India has repeatedly thrown away some good goal scoring chances, they still have managed to get above 50% possession in most of their games.
What Should India Be Working On?
Although India has been unlucky in many of their qualifiers, it’s clear that they have plenty of work to do if they are to keep up with top sides like Qatar. The team’s new coach Igor Stimac has already come in for much of the blame as he has helped the team win just one game in their past ten matches.
With the dazzling 1-4 win over Thailand earlier this year, it looked like Stimac was the perfect man for the job. His preference for playing out from the back seemed to fit the Indian players well, and there was real hope for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. That was especially important since his predecessor Stephen Constantine led his India team to finish bottom of their World Cup qualifying group after eight matches.
But it still seems as though there is something of a killer instinct missing from the current India side. With just two proper shots on goal against Oman on Tuesday night, it seems that it’s in the final third of the field where India are letting themselves down. Thankfully they still have the irreplaceable Sunil Chhetri to act as inspiration, but it looks like that there isn’t just enough strength in depth in the India team at the moment.
What’s Next For India?
While the results of their World Cup qualifiers might be disappointing, India still has plenty of time to prepare themselves for the next run of matches. And they don’t take place until next year, when they will compete against Qatar on 25 March, before a fascinating away match against Bangladesh on 3 June, and a tricky home game against Afghanistan on 8 June.
All of this means that the Indian football team is in sort of a transition period at the moment. But even if the men’s team makes a mess of things, then it could be worth keeping an eye on the Indian women’s football team in the South Asian Games this December.
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