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India will be facing Arabian opponents Jordan in a historic friendly match. The game will be played at King Abdullah II International Stadium in Amman Saturday. The fans can follow the game on Star Sports 3 or Hotstar form 9.30 pm onwards.
The match is going to be a historic affair as India will be facing Jordan for the first time in their history. Brimming with confidence after a hard-fought draw against neighbours China last month, the Indian players are expected to produce a stellar show once again in their penultimate match before the AFC Asian Cup. Jordan is currently ranked 112 in the recent FIFA rankings while India is positioned at 97.
But ranking doesn’t always tell the truth. In terms of quality, team composition, recent performance – Jordan are far ahead than their opponent. This is going to be an ultimate test for the Indian players before they face tougher opponents in the Asian Cup, a couple of months later. Another thing on the team’s mind is to play at a place where the weather is similar to UAE, the venue for the Asian Cup and Amman suits that.
The only problem that lingers around the team for quite a while now is, will India’s performance be distracted due to the ongoing feud between Sunil Chhetri and coach Stephen Constantine? We already know that the alleged feud is the unspoken truth in the footballing circles. Sunil Chhetri was alleged to be one among those who went to the AIFF seeking to replace Stephen Constantine with Bengaluru FC coach Albert Roca. Not only him but a few other senior players also expressed their dissent against the British coach and his playing style.
Chhetri is conveniently injured for this tie, allegedly suffering a Grade 1 ankle injury sustained during the game against Kerala Blasters, which could rule him out for up to two weeks. This means that he doesn't have to face any questions about his rift with Constantine, but the coach was not spared in the pre-departure press conference on Wednesday.
In fact, Constantine was visibly angered at one point of time when replying to a question, “In case you hadn't noticed, he's injured. Stop talking nonsense, ask me the right question. You asked me the question. I told you the answer. It's nothing other than that, he's not here and can't play.”
But he quickly refrained himself from inviting any controversy saying that it is a good opportunity for other players to come up and take his position. “Hopefully, we can find a replacement. Somebody has to fill in his shoes and we’ll see if they step up. We have to play sometime without him. There will be a day when he's not there. It's good if we find now so that he will be able to share his knowledge. That’s why we have youngsters in the squad now. We have to find somebody right now to be there since he’s not around,” opined the coach.
But surely, India cannot afford to have a distraction like this so close to the Asian Cup. As their qualification for the World Cup is a distant dream, Constantine and his men should treat the continental affair as their ultimate target for now. We know that teams like Australia made their mark on the global stage through the Asian Cup before they qualified for the quadrennial affair. But, the coach-star player feud is the least that India have wanted.
World football has witnessed some famous coach-player feuds which often led to the disgraceful results for the team. Take the case of David Beckham vs Sir Alex Ferguson. In February 2003, the then Red Devils boss Ferguson, angered by the poor performance of Beckham, kicked a football boot in the dressing room. The boot effectively landed on Beckham’s face, cutting his eyebrow deeply. The ‘sweet’ relationship between them ended with that incident and Beckham joined Real Madrid a few months later.
Recently, there was a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship between Lionel Messi and former Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli during the World Cup, which resulted in a poor finish for Argentina, bowing out in the pre-quarterfinal stage. Sampaoli was soon relieved from his job.
Given the past instances, we only hope that the feud doesn’t get so bad that it affects the team’s results in their most important tournament in recent history. Whenever there is a problem between a star player and the coach, it is the latter that usually departs. But in this situation, when the Asian Cup is only a couple of months away, a change in the head coach position will only make things worse.
The AIFF should come out and look for a solution immediately. The player’s focus shouldn’t be distracted at this moment. Otherwise, the revolution in Indian football which we are witnessing now would only prove futile.
So for now, we would only hope that Chhetri and Constantine’s relationship gets better in the coming days so that India can perform their level best at the Asian Cup.
