India have finished third at the 2025 CAFA Nations Cup after beating Oman 3-2 on penalties in their third-place playoff on Monday.
Khalid Jamil's winning start to life as the national team coach has brought back some cheer to Indian men's football -- the gritty showing against an Omani outfit that were just starved off chances by a disciplined, organised defensive effort exemplifying 'Khalidball', and all that's good about it.
Ahead of next month's crunch AFC Asian Cup qualifying double-header against Singapore, this was just the kind of tournament that India needed, as they tested themselves against some higher-ranked opponents, and have come out of it with encouraging results.
Here are some important takeaways for India from this tournament:
The Khalid Jamil era is off to an impressive start
The results were never going to be the focus of this tournament for India, but rare wins against Tajikistan and Oman have really helped. Most importantly, within his first four games in charge, Jamil really has made this his team.
This is how his teams always play: They are defensively solid, ridiculously hard to break down, and they maximise the chances they get. India conceded five goals in four games at this tournament, but three of them were against Iran, who are more than 100 places above them in the FIFA rankings.
Coming into the tournament, India were the third-lowest ranked side in it (above Turkmenistan and Afghanistan). In the opening game, they beat hosts Tajikistan, ranked 27 places above them, for the first time in 17 years. They have now beaten Oman on penalties - a side ranked 54 places above them - for the first time ever.
It is to Jamil's credit that he has set India up in a way that they have been competitive against such teams, recognizing that India cannot go toe-to-toe by playing attacking football against these teams. Of course, Jamil's style with any team has always been defensive, but it works for this Indian team because it works into the strengths of the players and works around their weaknesses (especially when they are missing players from the domestic double winners, Mohun Bagan).
Where Igor Stimac and Manolo Marquez failed over longer periods of time in terms of getting results against higher ranked sides, Jamil has succeeded within four games.
Long throws are India's route to goal
India scored three goals at this tournament, and all of them came from long throws, either directly or from the second phase of play after a long throw. In Muhammed Uvais and Rahul Bheke, India have two players who can hurl the ball a massive distance. In the likes of Anwar Ali, Sandesh Jhingan and Danish Farooq, they have had players capable of making first contact with those headers in the box, to cause chaos and as it turned out, goals.
There's no shame in being dependent on set-pieces for goals - you can finish second in the Premier League three times in a row with such a prowess as well. So, once again, that is a credit to Jamil, who has identified an area of strength and maximised it.
India didn't quite do enough from other set-pieces though, and that has been down to lacking quality on those deliveries. Naorem Mahesh Singh had a disappointing tournament, and Naorem Roshan Singh didn't play enough minutes for his set-piece deliveries to become as big a factor as they could've been.
With no club football on the horizon between now and the games against Singapore in October, there's little doubt that India will be working towards maximizing this strength from set-pieces.
Gurpreet Singh Sandhu is back
When Gurpreet Singh Sandhu was dropped from the national team in March, it was a fair decision, made on the back of him having a horrific season in the ISL, filled with basic mistakes directly leading to goals. He needed to be taken out of the national team; there's no questioning that decision made by Marquez.
What the great players do, though, is not let such bad phases define them -- In the off-season, Gurpreet went back to Norway and worked with his former club Stabaek and has come back to Bengaluru and kept himself sharp by working with India's age-group teams.
In the first match, Gurpreet saved a penalty against Tajikistan to preserve India's lead. He made a stunning late save against Afghanistan to ensure India came out of that game with a point, and against Oman, he saved the decisive final penalty to ensure that his team finished third in the tournament.
The best of Gurpreet is certainly up there with any other Indian goalkeeper in recent history. Being ignored in the last two international breaks was just the proverbial kick up the backside he needed to find his best again.
Where can improvements be made?
India aren't yet creating enough chances from open play to make them a consistent threat in games. But one has to look at the amount of quality that India were missing in this tournament, because of Mohun Bagan's refusal to release their players to the national team for this tournament.
Apuia Ralte would've instantly added more composure and passing ability to the midfield. Manvir Singh (the Bagan version) and Liston Colaco have their strengths in the final third which India missed.
On their good days, Manvir can also double up as a good hold-up striker while Liston is always a maverick on the wings. Liston, particularly, could've made a big difference in being fearless while going for shots from range, and making runs in behind the opposition defence, both of which India didn't do enough of at this tournament.
They should all be available for those games against Singapore, so a step-up in India's attacking levels should be the next expectation, with the base level having already been set at this tournament.
The striker question remains unanswered
Irfan Yadwad started all four games in the no.9 position, had a few chances to score but didn't take any of them. In fact, apart from being a willing and intelligent presser, there was little else to shout about for Yadwad. So, does Jamil stick or twist for Singapore? Remember, there's a 41-year-old hovering around this squad -- Sunil Chhetri hasn't yet retired from international football.
However, Jamil would do well to not look backwards again. It's time to put his faith in what he has and look forward. Yadwad hasn't really done enough in these games to convince anyone that he's India's top option for that centre-forward position.
Ashique Kuruniyan has struggled when played there, particularly in that game against Hong Kong in June. Young Manvir Singh from Jamshedpur FC doesn't quite look ready for this level yet.
Jamil has additional options in terms of the Bagan players who will come back, but both Manvir and Liston are predominantly wide players. Is it time to take the punt on Parthib Gogoi, who has led the line so impressively for the India U23s in their Asian Cup qualifiers this last week?