Two tournaments, two titles and a return to the top 100 in FIFA rankings. Nine games, which is one more than what India played in all of 2022, in 26 days. Seven wins and two draws, seven clean sheets. That was the India story in the Intercontinental Cup and the SAFF Championships. Here's looking at some of the reasons that produced such a strong performance.
Long preparatory camps
It is the thread that binds successive India coaches from Bob. Houghton to Igor Stimac and includes in its loop Wim Koevermans and Stephen Constantine. It is necessary because international football is most always a step up from the standard at home. Under Stimac, India have improved with every game in a competition when they trained together for four weeks or more. It happened in the 2019 Asian Cup under Constantine as well.
And it did in the final round of the Asian Cup qualifiers in 2022 in Kolkata; India playing their best against Hong Kong. From the first minute when Anwar Ali scored to the goal in 90+3 by Ishan Pandita, India were relentless in pushing Hong Kong at Salt Lake stadium.
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