National coach Stephen Constantine announced a list of 28 probables on Thursday for India's forthcoming 2018 World Cup preliminary joint qualification match against Iran.
Hosts India clinched the SAFF Championships title for the ninth time after beating Kuwait 5-4 in a tense penalty shootout.
It also showed that a side placed 102nd in the FIFA World Rankings can thwart a team placed 77 places above them. And India did keep the mighty Aussies out for 50 minutes before a fatal error saw the Blue Tigers punished after all the good work.
India lose to Iraq in penalty shootout, face Lebanon in bronze medal playoff.
India were able to stitch a rag-tag final squad only on Friday and the team left for China on Sunday, leaving no time for the players to even have a training session together.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri scored a hattrick as India handed Pakistan a 4-0 loss in their SAFF Championship match in Bengaluru.
All eyes were on the 131-year-old club Mohun Bagan as they were making their ISL debut following their 'marriage' with three-time defending champions ATK.
India lose to Bahrain 0-1, crash out of AFC Asian Cup.
'We are a team who hate to lose, and we have proven it in recent times. We are working as per the plan'
India lost all their three matches and without scoring any goal in the Asian Cup.
India look to ward off Nepal threat and move closer to semifinals
India will face Pakistan in their opening outing at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Wednesday
We need players with confidence in front of goal: Stimac after India's Asian Cup exit
Star striker Sunil Chhetri is among a 28-strong Indian probable squad announced for the 2018 soccer World Cup preliminary qualifying round matches against Iran and Turkmenistan.
Chhetri has played for India 142 times and has scored 92 goals, the most by an Indian. He is also currently the third most prolific scorer in international football among active players, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Phan Van Duc (10th), Nguyen Van Toan (49th) and Nguyen Van Quyet (70th) scored for Vietnam to no reply from the Indians whose defenders had a mediocre outing, especially in the second half.
Striker Jeje Lalpekhlua scored twice as India recovered from a one-goal deficit to thrash Laos 6-1 in one of the biggest ever wins and book a berth in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup football Qualifiers.
New Zealand football coach Fritz Schmid, on Tuesday, dubbed India lying somewhere between 'a sleeping giant and a rising competitor'.
The two teams will go up against each other again on Wednesday for the second leg
Nandhakumar ends East Bengal's 1658-day wait to beat Mohun Bagan
'Every game is important, every win is important, especially clean sheets, so I am very happy. But I can tell you that I was not at all happy at half time. We played well in the first 10 minutes, and then we disappeared.'
FC Goa's slim chances of making the semis all but went up in smoke as they remained on 18 points from 17 outings.
Here are some of the controversies, which cast a shadow on Indian sport as the athletes prepared for the Asian Games.
ATKMB dominated the early exchanges and constantly raided the opposition box. However, Odisha did well to close down the spaces and keep things tight at the back.
Kuruniyan ACL tear sparks row, Mohun Bagan 'refuse' to release players for Asian Games
Indian football team loses 0-2 to Australia in Asian Cup
Behind closed doors and with a raft of health safety measures in place, Indian Super League (ISL) will kick off in Bambolin on Friday and become the country's first major tournament to be organised since the enforcement of a COVID-19 lockdown eight months ago.
ATK Mohun Bagan moved to the top of the table and Kerala Blasters FC entered the top-four after the two sides played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in the Indian Super League.
The Blue Tigers raced to a 1-0 lead with the 21-year-old centreback Anwar scoring his maiden international goal four years after his career nearly ended on health grounds.
But they missed a flurry of chances with the striking line-up of Manvir Singh, Ashique Kuruniyan and Liston Colaco showing little coordination upfront, underlining the lack of firepower in the absence of Roy Krishna and David Williams.
National football team captain Sunil Chhetri and Women's national team striker Bala Devi, were named the 'AIFF 2014 Player of the Year' and '2014 AIFF Woman Footballer of the Year', respectively.
With Chhetri and Stimac at helm, AIFF hoping for strong show in Asian Games
The national federation, which was able to stitch together the team just three days before its departure for China, still thanked the Indian Super League clubs and the FSDL "for coordinating with it for the release of players".
Germany's World Cup-winning football team forward Thomas Mueller took to social media to show his support for the Indian cricket team in the ongoing ICC World Cup.
India face tough Iraq test sans Chhetri
'Indian football needs to work together and move in the same direction.' 'Only then will the competition in India improve, and the Indian national team will improve.'
ATKMB looked the likelier of the two teams to take the lead in the opening exchanges, with the Mariners needing two goals at least to make a comeback.
Indian football team has turned into a decent home side but it is in desperate need for away games, says inspirational skipper Sunil Chhetri, who feels the next target for the country should be a top-10 place in Asia so that the big guns invite them over.
