World Cup 2018: The history of Indian football team in FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

Stephen Constantine era began with the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

The 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers again had 4.5 spots for grabs for the AFC affiliated nations. However, this year, India didn't receive a bye because of their poor rankings. They were randomly paired with Nepal for a home-and-away fixture.

In the home fixture at Guwahati, two sublime strikes from Sunil Chhetri gave India a 2-0 victory over Nepal. In the away fixture, India drew 0-0 with Nepal and qualified for the second round.

In the second round, the 40 qualified teams were divided into 8 groups of five teams each. They would play amongst themselves in a double round robin format with 8 group winners and 4 best second-placed teams advancing to the next round. India was placed in Group D alongside Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan, and Guam.

India started poorly with a 1-2 loss to Oman at home. They would continue their poor form with a 1-2 loss to Guam away from home, 0-3 loss to Iran at home, 1-2 loss to Turkmenistan at home, and a 3-0 loss to Oman at home. After five successive losses, India won their first game 1-0 against Guam at home. However, they had failed to continue their winning run and lost 0-4 to Iran away from home, and 1-2 to Turkmenistan at home.

That was how India's road to Russia ended. Other than the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, India performed poorly in every tournament. Nonetheless, let's hope India performs better in the subsequent editions and one day India qualifies for the FIFA World Cup.