Brazil, a team once associated with style and panache, were praised by coach Dunga for their efficiency after beating North Korea 2-1 in their opening World Cup game on Tuesday.
The 2010 football World Cup draw pits Brazil with Portugal, Ivory Coast and N Korea in the same group.
Having started the year in the 129th position, the Sunil Chhetri-led team end the year at 105th spot in the FIFA rankings
Spain, who have several players from their country's top two football academies - the La Masia and Real Madrid academies -- were beaten 1-2 by South American champions and hot favourites Brazil in their first Group D match.
In outbound travel, India will be ahead of Italy, South Korea, Australia, Canada and France.
In the earlier match on the night, Ghana beat debutants Niger 2-0, face Mali in quarters
Brazil were knocked out of the Women's World Cup on Sunday after a surprise 1-0 defeat by Australia in the round of 16.
Looking under the hood, I see India on the terrible, but commonplace, road to prosperity failure, warns Rathin Roy.
Today, with China centrally seated and located, the Global South has an intriguing road ahead. Odds of it becoming a Chinese bloc in the emerging new bipolar world are higher than we'd wish them to be, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey conducted a patrol within 20 kilometres of Mischeef Reef, part of the Spratly Islands.
'Not one single country, anywhere in the world, is corruption-free,' the report said.
Eight stadiums in Doha will host 64 matches at the World Cup.
Jan-Fiete Arp (8th minute), Nicolas Kuehn (62nd) and Sahverdi Cetin (90+2) netted for the winners, while Ibrahima Soumah got the lone goal for Guinea in the 26th minute in the final Group C match at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.
'The group commands 85 per cent of the global GDP, and if you are able to convey your point of view effectively to this group then you have reached more or less all the important players that matter.'
South Korea squandered a chance to book their spot at next year's World Cup finals on Thursday after a 0-0 draw with 10-man Iran left their qualification hopes precariously balanced.
'With China falling out of favour, India is where investors see the demographic and digital dividend apart from the benefits of reforms playing out.' 'Your prime minister has also done a great job of sharing this story with the world.'
Indian football saw a big jump in the FIFA rankings on Thursday, rising 24 places to go up to 147 spot.
Indian policymakers are almost alone, alongside the United States, in seeking a hard and multi-sectoral global decoupling from China in the expectation that it will boost their economies, observes Mihir S Sharma.
India were on Friday drawn with two-time champions Ghana, United States and Colombia in a tough Group A of the FIFA Under 17 World Cup.
Aseem Chhabra watched some great films and some huge disappointments in 2021.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will again be duelling for the title of world's best footballer after their names once again headed the shortlist on Thursday for The Best FIFA Men's Player.
India announced its intention to acquire S-400 'Triumf' surface-to-air missile systems in 2015. The contract worth $5.43 billion was signed during the visit of President Putin to India last year.
Proliferation and potential use of nuclear weapons pose the most dangerous threat to global security and peace, US President Barack Obama has said.
India has been at the forefront of efforts at the UN to push for urgent long-pending reform of the Security Council, emphasising that it rightly deserves a place at the UN high table as a permanent member.
'This kind of a last minute order creates immense problems for airlines.'
India abstained in the United Nations General Assembly on a draft resolution calling for Russia to be held accountable for violations of international law by its invasion of Ukraine and requiring Moscow to pay reparations to Kyiv for damages, loss and injury resulting from the war.
Following is reaction to the 2022 FIFA World Cup draw, which was held at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center in Qatar on Friday.
The 193-member general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the above-mentioned referendums".
China's Wu Minxia will make her bid to become the most decorated female Olympic diver at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Disale announced that he will be sharing 50 per cent of his prize money with his fellow finalists to support their "incredible work".
India and Japan on Friday sought a peaceful solution to the territorial disputes in the strategic South China Sea, saying parties involved in the matter must not resort to "threat or use of force", in remarks that could anger China which is opposed to any outside interference.
An inspired performance from Douglas Costa helped Brazil to a 3-0 win over Peru on Tuesday and lifted them into third place in the South American qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
'It is no accident that politicians strive to control sports bodies, and get their names associated with popular sports, sometimes by renaming stadiums after themselves,' observes Devangshu Datta.
The world's most-talented young players gave India a memorable show of high quality football on the field as the country showcased its organizational skills in a near-flawless and record-breaking FIFA Under-17 World Cup across six cities, which culminated with England clinching the title in Kolkata on Saturday.
A decision to tap the 30 countries for exporting wheat was taken at a meeting of the commerce ministry on Thursday.
'It is unrealistic to expect that security dilemmas and strategic distrust to disappear or even diminish any time soon,' says Rup Narayan Das.
The medal tally at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
The ninth edition of the Global Peace Index, which ranks the nations of the world according to their level of peacefulness, has ranked Syria as the most dangerous country in the world.
The football fans in Kochi will get a chance to witness a fascinating contest between Brazilian attacking flare and Spanish 'tiki-taka' possession football in what could be a final before the final of this tournament.
