Asian Cup 2019: 5 things Former India Coach Stephen Constantine could have done better

#2 Constantine's handling of player feuds

Sunil Chhetri, one of the senior members of the squad, is rumoured to have sought Constantine's ouster

When India were at the brink of qualifying for the Asian Cup 2019, a couple of the senior players met the AIFF and expressed their thoughts about Constantine's inability to helm India at the tournament.

This was back in October 2017 but the AIFF extended Constantine's contract until the Asian Cup in February 2018, ignoring calls for his ouster because of India's rise in the rankings.

Just after the friendly with China in October 2018, the Times of India revealed India's top-scorer Sunil Chhetri to be one of the players who had sought the removal of the Englishman. It's never advisable to remove a coach three months before a major tournament but how was Constantine's reaction to that?

In the guise of rotating captaincy, Constantine handed the skipper's arm-band to other players like Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Sandesh Jhingan, Arnab Mondal and Subrata Paul even though there was only one clear leader on the field.

Chhetri then missed the friendly against Jordan in November in mysterious circumstances, citing an ankle injury. Chhetri showed discomfort soon after he scored a goal against Kerala Blasters on November 5, but played the entire game. He then pulled out on November 17, citing injury, but amazingly recovered soon after to play against FC Goa on November 22.

All that pointed to a rift between the two but both of them have denied anything of that sort time and again.

One can only speculate what might have transpired but Constantine could have handled the situation better.

Next slide - What led India down?