{"id":12840,"date":"2017-05-04T14:39:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T13:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=12840"},"modified":"2017-05-04T14:39:04","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T13:39:04","slug":"india-breaks-into-fifa-top-100-after-21-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/india-breaks-into-fifa-top-100-after-21-years\/","title":{"rendered":"India breaks into FIFA top 100 after 21 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Indian men\u2019s football team on Thursday climbed to the 100th spot in the latest FIFA world rankings \u2014 their best rating in more than two decades.<\/p>\n

Despite having a population of well over one billion, India languishes as a footballing minnow, ranked equally alongside Nicaragua, Lithuania and Estonia in a global table headed by Brazil.<\/p>\n

India \u2014 where the national pastime of cricket is something of an obsession that squeezes other sports out of the running \u2014 last made the top 100 in 1996, reaching an all-time high of 94, before plunging.<\/p>\n

The boost in ranking comes after India beat Cambodia 3-2 in Phnom Penh on March 22 in a friendly clash before edging out Myanmar 1-0 in Yangon on March 28 during an AFC Asian Cup qualifying match.<\/p>\n

Head coach Stephen Constantine congratulated his side on the milestone, but warned them against complacency ahead of important matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs long as we keep heading up the ladder I am happy. It points out that we are heading in the right direction,\u201d the 54-year-old Englishman was quoted as saying by the All India Football Federation (AIFF).<\/p>

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Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

\u201cThere are major matches ahead and we cannot take things lightly. There\u2019s no place for complacency,\u201d\u00a0said Constantine, who took charge of the Indian team in 2015.<\/p>\n

India will play a friendly against Lebanon on June 7 and then an Asian Cup qualifier against Kyrgyzstan on June 13.<\/p>\n

The team has won 11 of their last 13 matches, including an unofficial match against Bhutan, scoring 31 goals in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pleasing that we are presently ranked 100. At the same time, we need to stay aware of the challenge in hand. The AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers UAE 2019 are an acid test for us,\u201d said Kushal Das, AIFF general secretary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Indian men\u2019s football team on Thursday climbed to the 100th spot in the latest FIFA world rankings \u2014 their best rating in more than two decades. Despite having a population of well over one billion, India languishes as a footballing minnow, ranked equally alongside Nicaragua, Lithuania and Estonia in a global table headed by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":12841,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[140],"coauthors":[2392,2393],"class_list":["post-12840","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news","tag-india"],"yoast_head":"\nIndia breaks into FIFA top 100 after 21 years - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/india-breaks-into-fifa-top-100-after-21-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India breaks into FIFA top 100 after 21 years - National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Indian men\u2019s football team on Thursday climbed to the 100th spot in the latest FIFA world rankings \u2014 their best rating in more than two decades. 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