India’s victory at the 2023 Intercontinental Cup brought with it many feats – a first victory over Lebanon since 1977, a first victory in a final since the 2021 SAFF Championship and equalling a run of six clean consecutive sheets only achieved once before in 1951-52.

Igor Stimac has overseen victories in two tournaments this year (the Tri-Nations Series in Imphal in March), and with the SAFF Championship, King’s Cup and Merdeka Tournament to come, it could be quite the haul of silverware this year.

The Intercontinental Cup saw India win three of its four games, and there were plenty of positives to take from all the action that unfolded in the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneswar.

India’s depth of options as deep as the Mariana Trench

Prior to the tournament, Igor Stimac was at pains to point out that he was without seven potential starters due to injury. And yet, the footballers that did come in rarely let the overall quality drop. There are multiple options of requisite quality in every position for Stimac now, giving him quite the selection headache. The likes of Naorem Mahesh Singh, Mehtab Singh, Jeakson Singh, Rowllin Borges and Rohit Kumar did their reputations no harm – impressing in the minutes afforded to them.

Perhaps it’s time for the Indian Super League to be afforded some credit here – India has never had a league where all of its talents have an equal spotlight to shine and develop. For those arguing against this point, I’d simply point to the sight of India’s makeshift backup right-back executing a first-time backheeled flick that nutmegged his marker. The National Football League/I-League never gave a Nikhil Poojary the spotlight, the ISL has.

It simply underlines just how important a season-long calendar is to Indian football. The more football Indian talents play, the more chances they are afforded to shine, the better India does at a national level. Hardly rocket science, is it?

The Sunil Chhetri conundrum

Sunil Chhetri finished the tournament with two goals to his name, now only two behind the second-highest-scoring Asian footballer of all time (Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia with 89 goals). Yet for large portions of the minutes he played at the Kalinga, India’s greatest-ever striker was anonymous. The situation isn’t helped by the replacements (Rahim Ali, Ashique Kuruniyan) being the opposite of Chhetri in every way – all action, ever-present strikers who simply cannot find the net.

Chhetri, now a soon-to-be father, displayed an economy of movement akin to the best aging strikers – waiting for their moment to pounce. He would be an incredible weapon to bring off the bench, but as things stand, a 39-year-5-month-10-days-old Chhetri will start for India against Australia at the AFC Asian Cup on January 13, 2024. With plenty of football in store for the national side, perhaps it is time for greater experimentation, especially with the likes of Sivasakthi Narayanan, Ishan Pandita, Kiyan Nassiri and even Gurkirat Singh waiting in the wings.

Is this the best version of Sandesh Jhingan?

Cast your mind back to Sandesh Jhingan’s return from a less-than-stellar sojourn in Croatia and his stock was at it’s lowest. Coupled with the emergence of young centre-backs like Chinglensana Singh, Anwar Ali, Hormipam Ruivah et al it seemed like the veteran’s national team career was under threat. Yet, Jhingan has worked his way back into the national conversation with his form for Bengaluru FC this season, and if his partnership with Anwar Ali is anything to go by, cemented his name in Igor Stimac’s lineup come the AFC Asian Cup in January, 2024.

The 29-year-old was the only defender to start all four games in the Intercontinental Cup, and marshalled the Indian backline with aplomb. While Mongolia and Vanuatu weren’t the most threatening of opponents, Jhingan did well to negate Hassan Maatouk and Karim Darwich of Lebanon over 180 minutes. It was a return to the Jhingan of old – a defender’s defender, who’d never shy away from putting his body on the line to prevent a goal. Coupled with a few moments of adventure, where Jhingan was spraying measured long balls forward, this could be the very best version of him we are seeing. A mature leader, who understands his strengths and weaknesses, and brings out the best from those around him.

India’s ranking boon

The benefits of a higher FIFA rank cannot be understated – easier draws for qualification and in major tournaments itself. With Lebanon (99, 1202.74 pts) only two points clear of India (101, 1200.66 pts) in the rankings, the victory in the final will have the Blue Tigers leapfrog the West-Asian side when FIFA updates the rankings in a few weeks.

It also opens up the likelihood of India facing stronger opponents – which can be a double-edged sword of course, but with a national side on the up, the opportunity to climb higher in the rankings ought not to be ignored.

The optimism could do with some caution

For all of the euphoria surrounding the national team (Stimac’s assertion of India’s best half of football in FIVE decades comes to mind), it’s important to remember the quality of the opposition. Mongolia (183) and Vanuatu (164) are low-ranked nations that caused India a fair bit of frustration. 2-0 and 1-0 were the minimum expected scorelines against these sides.

Even against similarly-ranked Lebanon, India were shut out in the group stage game, with some profligate finishing not aiding matters. The two goals in the final that did come were a combination of individual brilliance and errors from the opposition – not something that Stimac can rely on occurring every game. India can be blunted, and this can be a concern going into the Asia Cup.

The SAFF championship will once again have India and Lebanon as the highest-ranked nations, but Aleksandar Ilic’s side can be a potential banana-skin of a fixture once more. A defeat there and the positivity from this tournament victory might disappear in five minutes, not five decades.