AFC Asian cup is ongoing and Indian team has qualified in it after a long wait. Blue Tigers won their last game against Thailand with a massive 4-1 with Sunil Chhetri scoring 2 goals. This win was historic for the Indian team as from past 33 years they haven’t won a game in the AFC Asian Cup and also because their participation in AFC is low. Here we look at the history of the Blue Tigers in the AFC Asian Cup.
AFC is one of the oldest confederations of the world and is the organiser of the AFC Asian Cup. From 1956 its first event to 2019 which is the 17th AFC Asian cup Indian team’s performance was very poor and it qualified in only three tournaments excluding 2019 Asian cup. Here’s the history of Blue Tigers in the AFC Asian Cup.
1964 AFC Asian Cup
It was the third edition of the AFC cup and only four nations participated. This was also Blue Tigers best performance in the AFC Asian cup as they were runner up losing to the host Israel. Indian forward Inder Singh and Mordechai Spiegler were the top scorers of the event scoring 2 goals each.
1984 AFC Asian Cup
After 20 years from the last participation, India qualified for the AFC Asian Cup in 1984. This was the Blue Tigers worst year in the Asian cup as they were knocked out in the group stage without winning a single match and also not a single goal was scored by the Indian team. The only point on the points-table was due to a goalless draw against Iran.
2011 AFC Asian Cup
This year Qatar was the host and India was among the 16 countries who were qualified in the tournament. India was in group C alongside Australia, Bahrain and South Korea. This Year too the Blue Tigers were unable to win a single match and the scorecard showed 13 goals against them and 3 scored by the Indian squad where Sunil Chhetri alone scoring 2 goals for the team one against Bahrain and the other against South Korea.
Overall the performance was disheartening for the football fans in India and 2011 Asian cup presented the capability of Sunil Chhetri. This year India is participating for the fourth time and after its massive 4-1 win against Thailand the Blue Tigers seem to be in good form. This thing will be more clear when they face the host UAE on 10th of January.
