Rebooting, with modest hopes

During his earlier stint as the India coach, from 2002 to 2005, Constantine blooded in several youngsters, including the likes of Climax Lawrence, Mehtab Hossain, Clifford Miranda, Mahesh Gawli and Abhishek Yadav, to name a few. These players went on to become the core of the national team in the years to follow, and later, under Bob Houghton, would lead India to its first-ever Asian Cup qualification in almost three decades.

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And it’s not just India. Constantine has earned a reputation of rebuilding teams and shaping them for the future during his stints with the national teams of Nepal, Malawi, Sudan and, most recently, Rwanda, who he guided to their highest-ever ranking of 68 before he left for India.

Constantine has been more visible at I-League games than his predecessors Wim Koevermans and Houghton, and it shows in the squad he has picked for the qualifiers. Eight out of the 26 players currently in Bangalore are in the national camp for the first time. Even in the pre-qualifier against Nepal in March, 11 had made the cut for the probables for the first time and during the course of the two-legged encounter, eight players made their senior team debuts.

“I like to build teams. It’s something I’ve done wherever I’ve gone. Everyone forgets that when they eventually qualify for the Asian Cup or the African Cup of Nations,” he jokes. “But there was a group of players in the Indian team over the last two years who stayed on despite not getting the results. Something had to change.”

As it turns out, quite a lot has changed. The inclusion of Jackichand Singh, CK Vineeth, Dhanpal Ganesh and Sehnaj Singh clearly indicates a shift from the usual paradigm of choosing the most experienced players at the national stage.

In doing so repeatedly over the last few years, India had plummeted in the world rankings, managing just eight wins in the 25 matches they played in the last three years, before Constantine took charge.

India’s record against teams ranked higher to them has not been flattering either. The last time they played Oman in a friendly match in 2012, the tiny Sultanate thrashed India 5-1. The current side, ranked 101 and coached by Frenchman Paul le Guen stands head-and-shoulders above the Indian team, both in terms of their physical presence as well as quality.

How well the youngsters respond to the challenge remains to be seen, especially since the two senior-most players in the team, Sunil Chhetri and Subrata Pal, are going through a lean patch themselves. Pal, who replaced Chhetri as captain in India’s previous match against Nepal, was stripped off the role on Wednesday by Constantine, who instead chose defender Arnab Mondal as the leader.

The decision also cast a shadow on his place in the starting XI for Thursday’s match, considering Pal was benched even by Salgaocar after a few mediocre performances. With no other compelling option at his disposal, Constantine might have to make do with Pal in the goal but his worries do not end there.

The form the strikers would be of a major concern. Bengaluru FC duo Sunil Chhetri and Robin Singh have both struggled for goals. Robin is one of the strongest players in the team, and at six-feet, his presence inside the opponent’s box can act as a distraction for the defenders. In his primary role of scoring goals, however, he has been disappointing. Just like his club-mate and former India captain Chhetri, who had an uncharacteristically poor I-League season.

Chhetri scored just two goals in the entire campaign, performances which restricted him to the bench for substantial part of the season. “Even my mum’s complaining,” Chhetri , the country’s highest goal-scorer, smiled. “I’ve never had a season where I’ve scored just two goals so it bothers me. Hopefully, I’ll be among goals tomorrow.”

For that to happen, Chhetri will have to find a way past Omani giant Ali Al Habsi. The former Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic goalkeeper was the thorn in the flesh for Indian strikers a decade ago when the two teams met in a World Cup qualifier. That match ended in a goalless draw and eventually turned out to be the last match of Constantine’s tenure.

As India prepare for another arduous campaign, Constantine knows a similar result would mark a perfect beginning to his second stint.

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