Indian football team set to stay put in November FIFA rankings

What's the story?

India look all set to hold their present position in the FIFA rankings table when the world football body publishes its latest table on November 23.

India, who drew their most recent match against Myanmar in their AFC Asian Cup Qualifying campaign, extending their unbeaten run to 13, will stay put at their present position at 105, when the latest rankings are out, according to stats guru Edgar Ranghuic.

In case you didn't know...

India entered the FIFA top 100 for the first time in 2017 in May and even reached 96 in July. They had enjoyed quite some time among the top 100, before dropping 10 places during September.

Although Stephen Constantine's men have shown some positive results during the last few months and have maintained their unbeaten streak of 13 matches, the Blue Tigers couldn't break back into the top 100 during October's ranking, even after managing a victory over Macau. This was mainly due to the fact that the India-Macau game was not taken into consideration for the October rankings. However, this game will be taken into the equation by FIFA for the November rankings.

The heart of the matter

India displayed a poor performance when they played against a much lower ranked Myanmar side during their Asian Cup qualifying match a few days back, only salvaging a point after having to come back from a goal down, not once but twice, and failed to get more points on board.

India who have won 11 out of their last 13 games over 728 days, keep their unbeaten run intact as they maintain their number one position in the list of most number of consecutive days spent without losing a match in international football even eclipsing the likes of World Champions Germany and the highly talented Belgium side, who follow India at second and third, respectively.

What's next?

India's next international fixture will be against the Kyrgyz Republic on March 27, 2018, in the Asian Cup Qualifiers with Stephen Constantine and his boys hoping to improve from the Myanmar match and get all three points this time around.

Author's take

India at 105 are the 14th best Asian team right now, and with their positive performances and the unbeaten streak, the hope of again making a break into the top 100 isn't far away.