Asian Cup 2019: Top 5 Achievements of Stephen Constantine with Indian National Football Team

#2 First win in AFC Asian Cup after 55 years, nearly qualifying for the Round of 16 in the Asian Cup

Sunil Chhetri celebrates after scoring against Thailand in their Asian Cup opener

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.