India at the AFC Asian Cup

Since the AFC Asian Cup was founded in 1956, India has qualified for four Asian Cups, in 1964, 1984, 2011 and 2019.[1]

The team played their first Asian Cup in 1964. It was India's best finish in the continental competition which came 55 years ago when they finished runners-up.[2][3] In 1964, India gained a direct qualification to the finals of the tournament after several Western Zone teams pulled out due to political reasons. 14 years after the country missed out on FIFA World Cup participation, the Indian national team had earned the opportunity to take centre stage in Asian football under English coach Harry Wright. Played in a round-robin format, the 1964 edition of the Asian Cup was won by hosts Israel but it had only four participants - one team from each zone. And with wins over South Korea and Hong Kong, India cemented second place. Inder Singh became team's top scorer with two goals.[2][3][4]

The team had to wait 20 years to qualify for the finals again.[5] And when they did, a group stage disaster awaited the Men in Blue.[2] The 10 participants were divided into two groups of five and India were placed in Group B alongside China PR, Iran, UAE and hosts Singapore. India lost three games and held Iran to a goalless draw to come away with a just a point in 1984. Saudi Arabia clinched their first Asian title, defeating China PR in the final. The legendary Krishanu Dey was part of Serbian coach Milovan Ćirić's Indian national team squad that battled it out with heavyweights like China PR and Iran.[2][6][7]

The 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar marked India's third and most recent continental campaign. The Blues qualified on the virtue of being the winners of the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup.[2] A Sunil Chhetri hat-trick and a goal by Bhaichung Bhutia helped hosts India defeat Tajikistan in the final of the Challenge Cup and qualify for the Asian Cup for the first time in 27 years. Drawn into Group C from Pot 4, the Blues lost all three of their group games to get dumped out of the tournament without any points on the board. Tim Cahill's brace helped Australia register a 4-0 win against India in the group opener. Gouramangi Singh and Chhetri scored in either half as India lost 2-5 to Bahrain and Chhetri's first-half spot-kick was the team's only consolation as South Korea thrashed them 1-4 in the final game in Group C.[2][8]

Eight years later, Indian national teams qualified and is set to travel to UAE for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup under head coach Stephen Constantine.[2][9] The team won their opening match against Thailand with the help of Sunil Chhetri's brace and broke the 55 years winless drought. However, India lost two remaining matches and crashed out from the group stage for the third consecutive participation.

Record
AFC Asian Cup record AFC Asian Cup qualification record
Host/Year Result Position Pld W T L GF GA Pld W T L GF GA
1956Did not enterDid not enter
1960Did not qualify620479
1964Runners-up2nd320153Bye
1968Did not enterDid not enter
1972
to
1980		Did not qualify301226
1984Group stage10th401307430182
1988Did not qualify502316
1992210123
19962002312
2000411289
2004201113
20076006224
2011Group stage16th30033132008 AFC Challenge Cup winners
2015Did not qualifyFailed to win 2012 & did not qualify for 2014 AFC Challenge Cup
2019Group stage17th310244188282524
TotalsRunners-up4/1713319122752157305998

1964 AFC Asian Cup
Main article: 1964 AFC Asian Cup
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Israel 330051+46
 India 320153+24
 South Korea 310224−22
 Hong Kong 300315−40
South Korea 0 – 2 India
Appalaraju  2'
I. Singh  57'
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: Davoud Nassiri (Iran)
Israel 2 – 0 India
Spiegler  29' (pen.)
Aharoni  76'
Attendance: 20,000
Referee: Li Pak Tung (Malaysia)
India 3 – 1 Hong Kong
I. Singh  45'
Samajapati  60'
Goswami  77'		 Cheung Yiu Kwok  39'
Attendance: 5,000
Referee: Patrick Nice (Malaysia)

1984 AFC Asian Cup
Main article: 1984 AFC Asian Cup

Group B
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 China PR 4301102+86
 Iran 422061+56
 United Arab Emirates 420238−54
 Singapore 411234−13
 India 401307−71
Singapore 2 – 0 India
Awab  36'
Saad  81'
Attendance: 21,000
United Arab Emirates 2 – 0 India
Al-Talyani  81'
Khamees  88'
Attendance: 2,000
Referee: Abu Wahid Shanbe (Oman)
Iran 0 – 0 India
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Koh Guan Kiat (Malaysia)
China PR 3 – 0 India
Lin Lefeng  19'
Gu Guangming  59'
Jia Xiuquan  79'
Attendance: 8,256
Referee: Ahmed Jassim (Bahrain)

2011 AFC Asian Cup
Main article: 2011 AFC Asian Cup

Group C
Main article: 2011 AFC Asian Cup Group C
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Australia 321061+57
 South Korea 321073+47
 Bahrain 310265+13
 India 3003313−100
10 January 2011
India 0–4 Australia
14 January 2011
Bahrain 5–2 India
18 January 2011
South Korea 4–1 India

2019 AFC Asian Cup
Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup

Group A
Indian team defending against Thailand attack at 2019 Asian Cup.
Main article: 2019 AFC Asian Cup Group A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United Arab Emirates (H) 3 1 2 0 4 2 +2 5 Advance to knockout stage
2  Thailand 3 1 1 1 3 5 −2 4[lower-alpha 1]
3  Bahrain 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4[lower-alpha 1]
4  India 3 1 0 2 4 4 0 3
Source: AFC
(H) Host.
Notes:
  1. Head-to-head points: Thailand 3, Bahrain 0.
Thailand 1–4 India
 Report
Attendance: 3,250
India 0–2 United Arab Emirates
Report
Attendance: 43,206
India 0–1 Bahrain
Report
Attendance: 11,417
Referee: Ilgiz Tantashev (Uzbekistan)

References
  1. http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/india-afc-asian-cup-2019-indian-football/jfmg5uewl6ha1akznnjy4249l
  2. "India's performances at the AFC Asian Cup". goal.com. GOAL. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  3. "Asian Nations Cup 1964". RSSSF.
  4. Chaudhari, Arunava. "The Indian Senior Team at 1964 Tel Aviv Asia Cup". indiafootball.de. IndiaFootball. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  5. Chaudhari, Arunava. "1984 Singapore Asian cup Qualifiers". indiafootball.de. IndiaFootball. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  6. "Asian Nations Cup 1984". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  7. "Indian National Senior Team at 1984 Asian Cup". indiafootball.de. IndiaFootball. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  8. "Asian Nations Cup 2011". rsssf.com. RSSSF. Retrieved 28 September 2018.
  9. https://www.sportskeeda.com/football/afc-asian-cup-2019-a-look-at-india-s-opponents
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