The Indian Football team is all set to take part in the 17th edition of 2019 AFC Asian Cup in UAE. The Blue Tigers will face Thailand in their first game on January 6th in Abu Dhabi. We take a look at India’s performance in the previous editions of the prestigious tournament.
The Blue Tigers have took part in the Asian Cup three times and their best result was finishing second in 1964 AFC Asian Cup in Israel.
1964 AFC Asian Cup Israel
Indian Football Team qualified to the 1964 edition of Asian Cup without having to play any qualification matches as several teams had withdrew or boycotted to tournament due it being hosted by Israel.
India, Host Israel, Hong Kong and South Korea took part in the tournament which was in round-robin system where Israel won the tournament winning all their three games and India finished second winning two games.
1984 AFC Asian Cup Singapore
The Blue Tigers were on the decline since the 1960’s and failed to qualify for the event for 20 years until 1984 when India hosted the 1984 Asian Cup qualifiers in Kolkata. India finished second behind South Korea in their group to qualify for the event.
India’s performance in the 1984 Asian Cup was poor as they finished last in their group failing to score in any of their four games. The only result for the Blue Tigers in the competition was a goalless draw against Iran who finished fourth in the competition.
2011 AFC Asian Cup Qatar
Indian football saw a heavy decline over the years as India became one of the minnows in Asian Football and for over 27 years the Blue Tigers failed to qualify for the biggest event in Asian football. India qualified for the event through AFC Challenge Cup a tournament which was held for the minnows to help them qualify for the competition. India beat Tajikistan in the finals of AFC Challenge Cup in Hyderabad.
The competition though was disastrous for India as Blue Tigers despite going through massive preparations suffered heavy defeats in their campaign and ended up conceding 13 goals in three games. Despite a poor campaign the likes of Subrata Paul, Sunil Chhetri and Rennedy Singh were praised for their performance.
