W

ith the multibillion dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket championship transfixing sub-continental sports fans during the month of May, the nation’s draw for soccer’s 2019 Asian Cup didn’t exactly hit the headlines.

After the May 4 ceremony in Dubai, India found itself in Group A, alongside host nation United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thailand and Bahrain.

“What is the IPL?” laughed India coach Stephen Constantine. “The interest in the Asian Cup is huge, and you cannot compare the two. [Soccer] is played all over the world in 211 countries and the Asian Cup will be shown in just about all of them.”

London-born Constantine is three years into his second stint as India coach, having also led the team between 2002 and 2005. He’s well aware that the world’s largest democracy remains obsessed with the battle of willow against leather. The old saying that the top three sports in India are IPL cricket, one-day cricket and Test cricket still isn’t far off the mark.

But an impressive qualification for next January’s Asian Cup, including a 14-match unbeaten run, gives the Blue Tigers a chance of unlocking India’s passion for soccer. They’ve also managed to avoid regional heavyweights like Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and defending champion Australia in a relatively friendly draw.

It will be only their fourth appearance in 17 editions of the Asian Cup, and their second in eight years, having qualified in 2011 under Bob Houghton after beating Tajikistan in the final of the AFC Challenge Cup for emerging nations.

However, making it to the 2019 cup through the conventional route is a greater achievement, given that they topped their qualification group with four wins and only one defeat in six matches.

“The fact the Indian team is there is massive, and we cannot underestimate the impact that will have on Indian [soccer],” Constantine said. “India qualified last time [in 2011] through the back door, but this time we have done it the hard way, starting with pre-qualifiers in March 2015.

“Indian football has improved hugely since our last Asian Cup appearance — not only on the pitch, but off it as well.”

It was a steep learning curve for India at the 2011 Asian Cup in Qatar, as it suffered heavy defeats in its three group games, conceding 13 goals and scoring just three. In its opening game, it was thrashed 4-0 by a Tim Cahill-inspired Australia, while Son Heung-Min was among the scorers as South Korea schooled it 4-1 eight days later.

Since then, India has tightened up defensively, conceding only five goals in six matches in the final round of qualification. Its FIFA ranking has increased to a respectable 97th place — its highest ever — after having slumped to 170th in 2014.

“We won our first four games in a row, that more or less qualified us,” Constantine said. “Winning in Myanmar after 61 years was huge for us, and then on the back of that beating a very good Kyrgyzstan 1-0 at home was also a very good result.

“I’m not too bothered about the rankings, but people look at them as a sign of progress, and the lowest-ranked teams are put in a different group, so fair enough.”

Major challenges remain for Indian soccer, with the need to integrate traditional I-League with the newer Indian Super League (ISL). The competitions run independently of each other over the cooler months and dilute both the player pool and fan base, making Constantine’s job more challenging.

“Something needs to happen […], it can’t stay as it is, that’s for sure,’’ he said diplomatically.

With the domestic seasons over, India will next be in international action as hosts of the Intercontinental Cup in Mumbai from June 1-10, also featuring New Zealand, Kenya and Chinese Taipei.

As for India’s chances in the UAE, Constantine is cautiously optimistic.

“I believe that on our day we can give any of the teams in our group a run for their money, so why not get out of the group?

“UAE being at home are a very good team, along with Bahrain and Thailand, who did not make the final round of the World Cup qualifying by chance. But we want to be with the big teams and prove that we belong there in every game.

Constantine, whose contract runs out at the end of the Asian Cup, has long been a vocal evangelist for Indian soccer. And if the Tigers can roar in the Gulf in January, long-time captain Sunil Chhetri could inch a little closer to the lofty national status held by his cricketing counterpart Virat Kohli.