A broken system overnight has doomed India’s AFC Asian Cup campaign

Two head coaches, a domestic league in limbo, players skipping national camps and a federation seemingly set adrift – the past eight months in Indian football have resulted in them failing to qualify for the AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 2019.

On paper, India was expected to top Group C of the qualifiers, which included lower-ranked teams Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangladesh. Yet after four rounds the Blue Tigers are bottom of the table, winless, with just two goals to show for it.

Last year’s results were already bad, but this year’s results were even worse when it mattered most. The defeat to Singapore in Goa was another dismal evening with only 10% of the 19,000 seat stadium occupied. Unless those responsible act decisively, Indian football will continue to disappear and become irrelevant.

Somewhere in the same state, former head coach Manolo Marquez might have looked on with a sense of relief that he was no longer the face of this failure.

Managing the national team was once a dream for Marquez, but the job quickly deteriorated. “When you see that all teams do not play by the same rules (naturalization process), you have the feeling that this is not the place for you,” he admitted in an interview with Marca.

Three days before the away match in Hong Kong in June, the players already knew that this would be the Spaniard’s last match. India then lost to Hong Kong for the first time in fifteen years. Marquez pointed fingers, including at himself, before resigning in July, less than a year after taking on the role.

The Federation’s next move felt like a last-ditch bargain. Khalid Jamil has ticked a lot of boxes: he communicates well with players, has turned underdogs into contenders and, crucially, has a tendency to make the most of limited resources without complaint. Even after the loss to Singapore, Jamil refused to single out individuals.

Unlike his predecessors – Igor Stimac and Marquez – Jamil is unlikely to make headlines about how the sport is run in India.

On the pitch, however, his appointment midway through the qualifiers marked an abrupt shift in philosophy from Marquez’s possession-based style to Jamil’s defensive structure.

The transition between two completely different systems disrupted continuity. In four matches, 38 players were called up and 18 changes were made to the starting XI since the Bangladesh match in March.

What should have been the pinnacle of Jamil’s coaching career instead became a trial by fire: a stuttering qualifying campaign full of obstacles.

His task was complicated by the uncertain future of the ISL, with players arriving at its first camp in August without proper pre-season preparation, and Mohun Bagan refusing to release his players despite the FIFA window. “We will adapt with the players we have,” Jamil said at the time.

To his credit, India finished third in the eight-team CFAA Nations Cup, recording positive results against Tajikistan and Oman, as Iran moved closer. These results briefly restored optimism ahead of the double-header against Singapore.

But the problems persisted. For the matches in Singapore, 14 of the 23 players of the traveling team failed to report on the first day. Rahim Ali, Subhasish Bose and Lalengmawia Ralte, who would later impress against Singapore, were not even part of his original chances.

Lalengmawia is undoubtedly India’s best all-round midfielder, a player the team can build around in the coming years. But why did the coach decide just three days before the home game in Singapore that his experience and quality were crucial?

Despite his reservations, Jamil made good on his promise to take charge of the attacking football in his first home game. His team played with intent and energy, qualities that have been lacking in the national team in recent years, but fatigue quickly eroded that intensity.

Jamil attributed the mistakes to the lack of match practice at the highest level. «Yes, even before this preparation we tried to call players early, but we didn’t get them because there were a lot of problems. We had to solve it,» he said.

It is worth wondering whether, despite India’s attacking efforts, the result will only reinforce Jamil’s belief that defensive football is the way forward.

«At home we have to attack,» he said when asked if India would maintain this approach, before adding: «I like defending more. You can say today we attacked and lost. For me, the result is important.»

However, Jamil should not be made a scapegoat for the malaise surrounding the team. Everyone knew what they were getting with him, but somehow expected something different. In the 15 matches before his appointment, India had scored more than one goal only once – a 3-0 win over the Maldives – and failed to score in 10 matches.

The CAFA Nations Cup and the home game against Singapore suggested that Jamil deserves time and space to rebuild. If India wants to become a disciplined, low-block side capable of delivering results, it needs institutional support.

Jamil’s defensive philosophy may not please the purists, but results are now a necessity. His success at club level often depended on foreign strikers who could lead his counter-attacks. In the national team, even Sunil Chhetri cannot answer the lingering question: who after Chhetri? Jamil defended his inclusion, saying: «He is one of the best strikers we have.»

But with two dead rubbers left in the campaign, Jamil was noncommittal about the veteran’s future. «We will think about it later. This is not the right time to talk about Chhetri,» he said.

With the next World Cup and Asian Cup qualifiers likely to take place in two years’ time, deciding on the 40-year-old’s international future should be one of Jamil’s easiest decisions.

But for Jamil to put the pieces of the puzzle together, he needs help from those above him. There is still no clarity on the status of the ISL and the I-League, and three international windows could pass before the domestic structure resumes.

Unless decisive action is taken soon, this failed qualifying campaign will no longer be an exception; it will become the norm.

Published on October 16, 2025