There's a strange kind of silence around Indian football right now, the kind that follows a heartbreak so familiar it no longer surprises anyone. The floodlights at the Fatorda Stadium have dimmed, the chants have faded, and with them, India's hopes of playing at the next AFC Asian Cup. A defeat to Singapore, a nation ranked well below India, sealed that fate, ending yet another qualifying campaign in disappointment.
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For the next two years, there's nothing. No major tournament, no qualifying campaign, no roadmap of meaning. Just a void. But within that emptiness lies perhaps the biggest opportunity Indian football has had in decades—a chance to finally rebuild something real. Khalid Jamil, now the man in charge, and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) stand at the edge of that opportunity, tasked with turning two empty years into the foundation of a future that has for too long been only a slogan, a dream without a plan.
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