Stephen Constantine has resigned as the head coach of the Indian national team after the team crashed out of the AFC Asian Cup on Monday.

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India suffered heartbreak as they conceded an injury-time goal through a penalty to lose 0-1 to Bahrain and crash out of the showpiece Asian Cup under dramatic circumstances on Monday. Immediately after the defeat, the Englishman announced that he has decided to step down from his position.

Constantine joined India for his second stint in 2015 and stayed on as the head coach for the next four years. During his time as the head coach, the Blue Tigers saw a massive climb in their FIFA World Ranking, eventually culminating in them breaking the Top 100 barrier.

“I feel my cycle here is finished. I have left the players here in a much better place than when I arrived,” said a distraught Constantine in his post-match press conference as he stepped down as the coach of the Indian National Football Team for the second time. The first one coming way back in 2005.

"I have been here for four years. My objective from day one was to qualify for the Asian Cup and we have done that," he said.

"I am exceptionally proud of the players for everything that they have given. I thank the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Kushal Das, Praful Patel and Abhishek Yadav for the support that they have given me."

Heartbreak in Sharjah

India were on the verge of booking their maiden knock-out round berth in the continent's biggest stage as the scoreline remained 0-0 till the 90th minute when captain Pranoy Halder brought down a Bahrain attacker for the referee to point to the dreaded spot.

Jamal Rashed stepped up and cooly sent the ball past goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu into the net to the dismay of the Indians who had surprised everyone with their impressive performance in the tournament.

A draw would have been enough for India to go through to the Round of 16 at second place in Group A while Bahrain would have been knocked out of the tournament. But it was not to be as India succumbed to incessant pressure in the last few minutes after waves of attack from their opponents.

India ended at the bottom of four-team Group A on three points from three matches. Hosts UAE, which played out a 1-1 draw against Thailand in the other match played simultaneously in Al Ain, topped the group on five points.

Thailand, whom India had beaten 4-1 in their opening match, and Bahrain got four points each but the South East Asian country ended at second spot as they had beaten the West Asian side in their previous match.

A knock-out round qualification in the Asian Cup would have been ranked as the biggest achievement in Indian football after the Golden Years (1951 to 64).

In 1984 and 2011 also, India had crashed out of the tournament in the group stage. They lost three and drew one in 1984 while losing all their three group matches in 2011.

India had finished runners-up in the 1964 edition in Israel but that tournament was played in a round-robin format comprising four countries with the winners being decided on the basis of points collected in the league. There was not a single knock-out match in that edition.