What's the story?
India has made huge strides under manager Stephen Constantine with the London-born manager helping the sleeping giants to their best ever FIFA ranking last month. Constantine's latest contract with the Indian football team was set to expire in March this year which had made the supporters anxious over their beloved manager's future.
But All India Football Federation (AIFF) have managed to convince the current manager to sign an extension to his present contract. The head coach, who is in his second stint as the Indian Head coach, will now see out the entire Asian Cup third round qualification.
In case you didn't know...
In the latest FIFA rankings announced by the governing body last week, India under Stephen Constantine were ranked 129 after jumping six places since the last rankings were announced. This is India's best position in little over a decade with the country's best ever ranking being 94- which they managed back in 1996.
Constantine was also India's manager between 2002-2005 but his second stint has been more successful in which he helped the side to regain the SAFF championship title last year.
Also Read: 5 best moments of Indian football in 2016
The heart of the matter
AIFF general secretary, Kushal Das has revealed the board's vision to qualify for the 2019 Asia Cup and Constantine has been tasked with it. The Brit will oversee the draw which features 24 teams and the draw for the qualification is on January 23. India will have six games to qualify for the coveted competition with the first match week set to be held on 28 March 2017.
Under Constantine, the Blue Tigers have won 9, drawn 2 and lost seven out of the 18 matches. In the FIFA rankings, India's points tally has increased from 217 to 243 under the former Rwanda manager.
What's next?
The next job for AIFF after extending the manager's contract will be to appoint an assistant coach to Stephen Constantine. Lee Taylor is the current Indian assistant coach who is also the India U-19 coach has expressed his desire to try out new challenges.
There have been demands to bring a former Indian player as an assistant to Constantine with former Indian captain, Shanmugam Venkatesh being seen as a future head coach. But Venkatesh is the team manager at the moment and Constantine has no intentions of making the veteran as his number two.
Sportskeeda's take
India has an exciting squad to work with and it was important for the board to maintain that continuity in the squad. AIFF has done a commendable job in securing Constantine for the Asian Cup qualifications which won't disrupt the preparations in any way as the players have grown to be fond of the Brit and has implemented his methods well on the field.
