Thailand Are Beatable, We Can Go to Australia: Crispin

The thing about FIFA rankings is that they can conceal as much as they reveal.

- Dhiman Sarkar

KOLKATA: At 46, Thailand top the 2026 AFC Asian Women's Cup qualifiers but it is Timor-Leste, Mongolia and Iraq that worry Crispin Chhetri just as much. Because the India head coach said he has "zero idea" about them.

Explains why Chhetri said that rankings can be tricky, referencing India's losses to Bangladesh and Nepal in the 2024 SAFF Championship to embellish the point. At 70, India are ranked second in the group from which only the winners will go to the finals in Australia next March. India haven't qualified on merit since 2003, Thailand played the 2019 World Cup but Chhetri, who turned 50 on Friday, is not ruling out an upset.

"I think if the players believe in themselves, Thailand are beatable," said Chhetri. "Right now, we have started thinking that we could go to Australia." The comment fits into the positive attitude Chhetri is trying to inculcate. "I try to instill not to fear losing. Because the day you stop fearing losses is when you will be successful."