4 instances when India could have played in FIFA World Cup

India kick-start their FIFA World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign today, as they host Nepal in the two-legged qualifying match. Defeating Nepal in these games will place India among the 40 AFC registered nations who will then play in a round robin format.India is currently ranked 171 in the world, and haven’t done a lot in the recent years. Instead, the team have declined. Dutch coach Wim Koevermans resigned last year after multiple failures with the national side.The AIFF have most recently appointed Stephen Constantine as the new head coach of the national team. The British coach has selected a fresh side where most of the players have come from the U-23 national team.This new look India team is expected to do well in this qualifying round and go further in the process. The team has never made it past the group stages of the qualifying rounds. In this article, we look at four such instances when the team could have made it to the World Cup, following good performances in the qualifying rounds:

#4 2002 - Round 1 qualifiers (11 points)

One of India’s best possible results ever in FIFA World Cup qualification (AFC) was for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. They got eliminated from the group stages, as they finished third behind United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

India secured 11 points from 6 matches, same as Yemen, but finished behind them due to an inferior goal difference. Only UAE qualified for the next round. Even though they did not make it to the second round, India’s performance was commendable.

The men in blue defeated Brunei twice, one of which was a lopsided 5-0 win at home. They also defeated the mighty UAE at home. They successfully held Yemen to draws in both the matches.

They lost only one game in the entire qualifying phase which was against UAE in an away encounter. If India had managed to beat Yemen in at least one of the ties, they would have surpassed UAE and qualified for the next stages.

You can follow live commentary of the match here – India vs Nepal Live