PANAJI: The reaction to India's 2-1 loss against Guam ­ a country ranked 174 in the world, with a population of 165,000 ­ in a Group D round two clash of the Asian 2018 World Cup qualifier has been typically knee-jerk.

One online football forum called for a public interest litigation (PIL) to be filed against the All India Football Federation ( AIFF ) and another cheekily suggested that a leading television channel start a prime time debate.

Suddenly, the nation wants to know why a country of 1.25 billion cannot even match, forget better, the smallest footballing nation in Asia. It was not always like this.

Two years ago, India brushed aside the challenge of Guam 4-0 in a AFC Challenge Cup qualifier in Myanmar, and while India are yet to win any game in a World Cup or Asian Cup qualifier since 2001 when India put it across Brunei ­ Guam have taken rapid strides since losing 16-0 and 19-0 during the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign.

Guam now lead the group, which also includes Iran and Turkmenistan , also includes Iran and Turkmenistan, with two victories in a row, while India are languishing at the bottom, yet to open their account and their dream in tatters.

"I am not someone who criticizes anyone just for the sake of it. If you look at this team, there is not enough quality. In fact, except briefly under Bob Houghton when we had players like Climax, Mahesh, Baichung, Renedy , Steven, Samir, Deepak, Indian football has suffered from a dearth of technical players," said Subhash Bhowmick, who coached Churchill Brothers to I-League title.

Bhowmick belonged to a golden generation where footballers were oozing quality and there was plenty to choose from. Now, says Bhowmick, there are only a handful ­ may be even less ­ and is willing to give coach Stephen Constantine more time to build a new generation of players. "You cannot change anything overnight," said Bhowmick.

The problem is, Constantine, who is in India for a second term as chief coach, tried too many things too soon. He has handed debuts to as many as 13 players since taking over and in the four games that India has played under his tutelage ­ winning just once against Nepal ­ the lack of cohesion is clearly visible.

Constantine also hasn't been able to handpick his best players. Against Guam for example, he lost faith in both his central midfielders, Eugeneson Lyngdoh and Sehnaj Singh, at the change of ends.

He replaced them with Cavin Lobo and Dhanpal Ganesh, while two other experienced options ­ Harmanjyot Khabra and Godwin Franco were left at home.

"India had too little time to prepare," said Royal Wahingdoh coach Santosh Kashyap, who worked wonders with relatively unknown players in the I-League to finish a creditable third.

India went into the World Cup qualifiers without playing a single friendly and the squad was together for just 10 days. Both Oman and Guam, in sharp contrast, played two friendlies each in the run-up to their games.