Kolkata: It wasn’t quite long that the Indian football team had reached to the 101th rank in the FIFA standings. To better that, the men in blue have jumped a place to become the 100th ranked team now, according to the latest FIFA rankings released on Thursday. This is the first time in over two decades and only the sixth time after Independence that the national football team has featured in the top 100 nations in the world.
Head coach Stephen Constantine predicted an ever brighter future for the team but at the same time, warned the team against any sort of complacency.
“As long as we keep heading up the ladder, I am happy. It points out that we are heading in the right direction. There are major matches ahead and we cannot take things lightly. There’s no place for complacency” said Constantine.
The Indian team has now matched it’s feat of 1996, when they were at the same position. Also, it was that very year when they achieved the 94th rank, their highest ever ranking in the FIFA standings till date.
Two months back, the Indian team started it’s high rise in the FIFA rankings after it defeated a heavyweight side in the form of Cambodia by a 3-2 margin. This was their first ever away win in over a decade and their historic 1-0 win the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers over Myanmar was no less popular.
This victory was a special one and historic because of the fact that this was India’s first win in Myanmar in over 64 years. A further 4-1 drubbing of South Americans Puerto Rico only added to India’s push up the FIFA ladder.
AIFF General Secretary Kushal Das too joined in praising the Indian national team for this terrific achievement but again believed that the focus should be solely on the AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers which is scheduled to be held in the UAE in 2019.
Said Das, “It’s pleasing that we are presently ranked 100. At the same time, we need to stay aware of the challenge in hand. The AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers UAE 2019 are an acid test for us.”
“AIFF has been providing the national team the best of exposure and facilities and we expect the team to keep up the good work” further added the AIFF General Secretary.
What would give even more joy to Indian football fans is that the team has secured 11 victories in their last 13 matches, which includes an unofficial encounter against Bhutan. In the process of registering so many wins, they have scored a whopping 31 goals.
Well, Indian football finally seems to head in the correct direction as the team is slowly justifying it’s tag given by FIFA chief Gianni Infantino, of being a ‘passionate giant’ in world football.
(With inputs from PTI)