India’s football captain Sunil Chhetri has had a glorious career that has seen its ups and downs. Chhetri has bagged a plethora of records but he said he doesn’t think about them and he wants to keep enjoying till the time he is playing.
The talisman had recently said he will keep playing till he is enjoying his training ritual. Meanwhile, India comprehensively bested Hong Kong by 4-0 in their last Group D match of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on Tuesday.
The Blue Tigers had already qualified for the tournament which will take place in 2023 after Palestine had defeated Phillipines by 4-0.
Anwar Ali opened the scoring for India against Hong Kong as he scored in the second minute of play. Chhetri then continued his good form as he found the back of the net at the stroke of half-time whistle. This was Chhetri’s 84th goal in International football and he has equalled Ferenc Puskas’ record.
Manvir Singh and Ishan Pandita then also scored later in the game to put the match to bed as India defeated Hong Kong after 29 years.
Chhetri said in the post-match press conference, “It feels good when you see that chart [goalscoring] for five seconds and then you carry on without sounding modest or anything. I genuinely don’t think too much about the records. I know when I’m playing matches for my country, I don’t have that many left so I want to go out there and enjoy every game. I want to slide, I want to run, I want to do each and everything that I can because I know it’s not going to last for a long time. And it [playing for India] is probably the best thing that has happened to me in my life, it’s an absolute honour and I take every bit of it.”
India won all of its three matches against Cambodia, Afghanistan and Hong Kong. Furthermore, the home team conceded only one goal throughout the third round of the qualifiers. The 37-year-old was satisfied with the performance of his team.
Chhetri added, “Yeah, the kind of form we are in, who love to play at home, the way the fans are coming up and supporting us in numbers, it’d be great to play here. Yes, we are very satisfied, I generally don’t use this word but I’m really satisfied with the performance of the team. We had set a target to do well especially when we got the qualifiers at home and we’re really happy that we did it with nine points in three games which wasn’t easy. Both the last games, without defeating Cambodia, would be difficult. So, three wins, nine points feels good.”
This is the first time when India has qualified for back to back AFC Asian Cup. Chhetri added that they will look to keep improving and this qualification will give them a chance to play against the best in Asia.
He concluded, “I think now I’m at my peak. Yes, this feels good because the last one is already past us. We really wanted to work hard. It doesn’t matter in the upcoming big tournaments whether I’m there or anyone else is there or not, India should be there and I’ve always said this. It is paramount for us as a nation to keep being at the Asian Cup so we can rub shoulders with the best in Asia, we will know how much we lack and how much we have improved.”
