World Cup Qualifiers: Guam 2-1 India - Five talking points

India need the team to gel together soon

In football, the teams that are successful have usually played together for a long period of time. Just look at the World Cup winning teams of Italy, Spain and Germany. The players in this team have been playing together for years.

They need to play more games together in order to build something that can last India at least five years. Now, with a break of almost two months, Constantine must try to play a couple of friendlies in between against decent opposition so that the players get time to get used to the playing style.

India need to select a particular system to play

In his post-match press conference after the Oman game, Stephen Constantine said that he had not told the players to play “long balls”. But for a second game running that is exactly the kind of football India played.

India need to find a system of play that suits them. In the forward line, India just have Robin Singh who can act as a target man. In case of an injury to him, there is no one India can turn to. India have to try to find a particular way to play and stick with it.

Guam’s win against Turkmenistan was no fluke

When Guam won against Turkmenistan on the 11th of June, no one really believed they could beat India and keep the run going. They did just that and will remain at the top of Group D till September.

A World Cup berth might be a step too far for the island country, but they have a good chance of qualifying for the 2019 Asian Cup.