Constantine: India cannot afford slow starts

India had already secured qualification for the tournament in the United Arab Emirates with two games to spare after reeling off four straight wins, but fell behind after just 13 seconds at Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium as Yan Naing Oo netted for the visitors, who are battling with the Kyrgyz Republic for the second qualification spot.

Kyaw Ko Ko kept Myanmar ahead at the break after Sunil Chhetri had equalised for India, but the hosts hit back again to maintain their unbeaten record as Jeje Lalpekhlua struck with just over 20 minutes remaining.

“It reminded me of the game against Oman. We had conceded a goal in less than 15 seconds. We have this bad habit of starting very slow.

"We were lucky that we didn't pay for it this time. Against better teams, we will pay. We talked about this before the game. We started sloppy and we paid,” said Constantine.

“We sometimes have this bad habit of playing to the level of our opponent. We know that nine times out of 10, we would beat Macau. We know that we can beat Myanmar.

"We don't know if we can beat Kyrgyz Republic or Oman. Sometimes we get a little bit over-confident and I think was an example of this.”