With World Cup and Olympics out of the picture, the continental competition – AFC Asian Cup – becomes Indian football's biggest stage in the international arena.
India are competing in the Asian Cup for the fourth time, having taken part in the 1964, 1984 and 2011 editions previously. Stephen Constantine's boys qualified for the 2019 edition, to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from January 5 to February 1, in the third round.
The FIFA rankings of April 2018 were used as the basis for the seeding, and India were placed in Pot 3 for the draw. India then landed in the Group A, alongside the hosts UAE, Thailand and Bahrain. Despite their respectable FIFA rankings, India are the underdogs in the group. But again, India will hope for a good outing, at least qualifying for the next round.
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All You Need To Know About India's campaign, schedule and fixtures, etc:
Group A (FIFA ranking/Pot): UAE (81st/Pot 1), Thailand (122nd/Pot 2), India (96th/Pot 3), Bahrain (116th/Pot 4)
How to qualify for the knock-outs?
Finish as one of the two top teams or get lucky enough to become one of the four best third teams. By the way, there are six groups.
1st Group Match:
Opponent vs Thailand
Date: January 6 (Sunday)
Time: 7:00 PM IST
Venue: Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi
2nd Group Match:
Opponent vs UAE
Date: January 10 (Thursday)
Time: 9:30 PM IST
Venue: Zayed Sports City Stadium, Abu Dhabi
2nd Group Match:
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Opponent vs Bahrain
Date: January 14 (Monday)
Time: 9:30 PM IST
Venue: Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah
TV Guide: Star Sports Network
Live Stream: Hotstar
Past Records:
UAE - Runners-up in 1996, third place in 2015 and fourth in 1992
India - Runners-up in 1964
Thailand - Third place in 1972
Bahrain - Fourth place in 2004
Squad:
GK - Gurpreet Singh Sandhu (JSW Bengaluru FC), Vishal Kaith (FC Pune City), Amrinder Singh (Mumbai City FC);
DF - Ranjan Salam (East Bengal), Subhasish Bose (Mumbai City FC), Sarthak Golui (FC Pune City), Sandesh Jhingan (Kerala Blasters), Pritam Kotal (Delhi Dynamos), Narayan Das (Delhi Dynamos), Anas Edathodika (Kerala Blasters);
MF - Germanpreet Singh (Chennaiyin FC), Anirudh Thapa (Chennaiyin FC), Vinit Rai (Delhi Dynamos), Muhammed Ashique Kuruniyan (FC Pune City), Pronay Halder (ATK), Udanta Kumam (JSW Bengaluru FC), Rowllin Borgers (NorthEast United), Jackichand Telem (FC Goa), Halicharan Narzary (Kerala Blasters);
FW - Sumeet Passi (Jamshedpur FC), Balwant Singh (ATK), Sunil Chhetri (JSW Bengaluru FC), Jeje Lalpekhlua (Chennaiyin FC)
Head Coach - Stephen Constantine (England)
