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India bowed out of the AFC Asian Cup after losing 1-0 to Bahrain in Sharjah on Monday. India finished fourth in their group as Thailand managed to play out a 1-1 draw against UAE, a result which acted as the final nail in India's coffin.
Truth be told, not many had expected India to qualify for the Round of 16's before the tournament started. But after the Blue Tigers' superb display in the first match against the War Elephants got everyone's hopes high.
Had UAE defeated Thailand on Monday, the tale could have been different for India.
Stephen Constantine, the Indian team coach who has been in charge of this team for the last four years, stepped down as the Indian National Team Coach after the defeat.
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The British coach announced his resignation in what was an emotional press conference for him. The British gaffer broke down into tears while speaking about the players and his journey with the team for the last four years.
In this piece, we take a look at Stephen's top five achievements with the National team.
#5 Handing out International debuts to 40 players
Stephen Constantine has almost always faced flak regarding his team selection. Some of his choices have always been singled out and questioned.
One fact that no one can deny is the fact that he handed out International debuts to 40 players in the four years that he was in charge of the national team.
Except for Jeje Lalpekhlua and Chhetri, all the other players that played in the AFC Asian Cup 2019 all made their debuts under Constantine.
Constantine took his time and tried out a lot of combinations before selecting a definitive bunch of players.
He did give players like Romeo Fernandes, Lalinzuala Changte, and Jerry debuts in the national team set up. Players like Saumik Dey and Dhanachandra Singh also had the honour of wearing the blue jersey of India under Stephen Constantine. While Saumik and Dhanachandra were at the wrong side of the careers when the national team came calling, youngsters like Changte, Jerry, Daniel, Nikhil Poojari and Nishu Kumar would be thankful to Constantine for giving them a break at the international level at a young age.
No one else has handed out so many debuts as head coach of the Indian National Team.
#4 Getting an away win in an official FIFA Friendly after 12 years, Victory over Myanmar in Myanmar after 64 years
India were struggling as far as FIFA Rankings and performance went when Constantine took over in 2015.
One of the first things that the Englishman said was that India needed to play more friendlies if they were to improve their FIFA rankings and fulfil their objective of qualifying for the Asian Cup 2019.
India started making use of the FIFA match windows, and that eventually paid dividends.
India played Cambodia in Cambodia on 22nd March 2017. The game also acted as a preparation tie for India's match against Myanmar in the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers.
India went onto to defeat Cambodia 3-2 as Sunil Chhetri, Jeje Lalpekhlua and Sandesh Jhingan scored to give the Blue Tigers their first win an official FIFA Friendly away from home in 12 years.
India went onto defeat Myanmar in Myanmar six days after the historic victory against Cambodia. The win against Myanmar was even more significant as India had to wait for 64 years to defeat Myanmar in Myanmar. The victory against Myanmar was crucial for India in qualifying for the AFC Asian Cup 2019.
#3 Qualifying for Asian Cup 2019
When Stephen Constantine was appointed as Indian National team coach in 2015, the objective was crystal clear; he was to make sure that India qualified for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 in UAE.
Many people at that point in time didn't really think that qualification for the Asian Cup was possible given India were languishing in 170s in the FIFA rankings.
The Qualification process for India was a long one as they had to play a couple of rounds of Pre Qualifiers with Nepal and Laos to gain eligibility for the group stages of the Qualifiers.
After getting the better of Nepal and Laos, India was grouped with Myanmar, Kyrgyz Republic and Macau in the group stages of the Qualifiers.
Some again felt that the likes of Myanmar and the Kyrgyz Republic would be too much for India, but then again the Blue Tigers proved their worth and finished as group toppers. They were also the first team to confirm qualification for AFC Asian Cup from the group qualifiers.
#2 First win in AFC Asian Cup after 55 years, nearly qualifying for the Round of 16 in the Asian Cup
Pundits had predicted India to come back from UAE with at most a point from the three games.
But as the sun set on the Abu Dhabi skyline on 6th January, Udanta put in a perfect cross for Chhetri, who finished of the move with a world-class finish to give India a 2-1 lead against Thailand.
People were pinching themselves to make sure that they weren't dreaming. India went onto to score two more goals as they beat Thailand 4-1 in their first game of the AFC Asian Cup.
The victory and performance made the region and Asia take notice of India's progress. The win was India's first win in the Asian Cup after 1964 when India beat Hong Kong 3-1. It was also India's most significant victory by a margin in the tournament.
India lost to UAE in the second game but won hearts with their performance especially the first half performance.
Coming into the third game the equation was straightforward for India get a draw and qualify for the Round of 16.
India's faith was in their own hands something which again was very difficult to believe for some of the more pragmatic pundits. A loss against Bahrain could also have taken India through to the R16 if UAE had defeated Thailand. But it all went wrong.
Even though India couldn't get past their group into the round of 16, the overall performance of Stephen Constantine in tournament barring the last game is something to be proud of.
#1 Breaking 100 barrier in FIFA Rankings
Most Indian football fans are accustomed to seeing India having a three-digit ranking in the FIFA Rankings. When Stephen Constantine took over as the National team coach, India were languishing in the 170s and slowly but steadily the rise that was hoped for happened throughout the four years.
A lot has been said as to how the FIFA rankings itself is a flawed concept, and if the calculations are done correctly, then any team can have a cosmic rise in the rankings.
To achieve that astronomical rise a team needs to put in the performance on the field, and Stephen's Indian side did just that.
India went on a 13-match unbeaten streak over 728 days, which at that time was a world record. Germany and Belgium were the other teams who were close to India when it came to the number of days remaining unbeaten. The streak came to an end in Bishkek as India lost 2-1 to the Kyrgyz Republic after being unbeaten for 13 games and nearly two years.
The friendly against China in China and the Puerto Rico friendly in Mumbai will be other high points during Constantine's second stint in India.
India are currently ranked 97th in the world.
