India vs Guam: We Lacked Football Intelligence, Admits Stephen Constantine

The tiny nation of Guam consigned sleeping giants India to an embarrassing odd-goal-in-one (2-1) defeat in a football World Cup 2018 qualifier at home on Tuesday. India's national coach Stephen Constantine admitted, his team were below par and did not have the education to play against a quality opponent. (Match report)

Using a technicality in the rules, Guam, a territory of the US in the western Pacific, fielded seven American players, two of whom are Major League Soccer regulars. That was enough to expose Constantine's young team that lost to Oman at home last week.

This is Constantine's second stint with the Indian squad. The experienced coach is on a rebuilding mission and is aiming to find the right set of players who love to wear the Indian shirt with pride.

Constantine is aware that the lure of an Indian Super League will not bolster India's international image. Quick bucks don't translate into goals. Bollywood stars, a clutch of cricket legends and rich industrialists may make a league look attractive but even beating a Japan will remain a distant dream.

Constantine is aware that Indian football is in a quagmire and he was not surprised by the Guam humiliation. The 2-1 defeat is a wake-up call and sooner the people who run the game in the country realise it, the better. There is far too many junk in the system and accountability is missing in an archaic and sloppy system. Fifa's attribute that India is a "sleeping giant" is only a gimmick.

"We are disappointed. Today, the difference was very much visible between a group of players who have the best football education and the rest," the coach said.

"Seventy-five per cent of the players who represented Guam have been born and brought up in the US and that made a huge difference," Constantine said, adding: "We lacked football intelligence in key moments of the game and that cost us."

This football intelligence is not only missing among the players but from the entire system. The football mandarins refuse to learn. They love their foreign trips, enjoy the hospitality and are not touched by embarrassment. It is unique of India's sports administrators.

When Praful Patel was elected unopposed as one of the Asian Football Federation vice-presidents in Bahrain recently, India were seen as a south Asian 'big brother' who will play the leading role in lifting soccer's image. Pakistan lent their support to India boss Patel by withdrawing their VP candidate.

Successive defeats in World Cup qualifiers will tarnish India's image.

The Guam defeat should be seen in light of the ISL. In the next few weeks, a lot of over-the-hill international players will make a lot of money, many Indian players will be exposed to an 'international' dressing room and the event organisers will use their financial muscle to jazz up the tournament. India's soccer aficionado will go ga-ga over IPL's soccer version.

But how will India prevent a Guam defeat? More questions than answers for Mr Constantine and the AIFF. "Sleeping giant" India will remain his last frontier!