Sunil Chhetri says it’s mandatory for India to qualify for every Asian Cup

India’s veteran Sunil Chhetri believes it is imperative for the Blue Tigers to qualify for every Asian Cup. Manolo Marquez’s team played a goalless draw against Bangladesh in their opening match of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

India will now play a friendly game against Thailand on June 4 whereas they would take on Hong Kong in the Asian Cup qualifier on June 10 while playing away from home.

Meanwhile, Chhetri had announced his retirement in 2024 but took a U-turn and made a comeback for the clash against Bangladesh. Chhetri scored 14 goals and provided two assists in 28 games of ISL 2024-25 season and played an instrumental role in taking the Blues to the final of the tournament but they could not cross the last hurdle against Mohun Bagan Super Giant.

Chhetri wasn’t impressed with team’s performance after draw against Bangladesh and said they let themselves down.

“The initial feeling after the Bangladesh game was that we let ourselves down, let the country down,” Chhetri said in an interview with the-aiff.com.

“And after I saw the replays, I thought we, as a team, could have done so much more. It was a huge opportunity to take the lead in the table, playing Bangladesh at home. We should have done so many things better. Ending up with just a point, I think we players have no one else but ourselves to blame. We didn’t turn up the way we should have. And that is the reason why we drew the game. We’ve talked about it, we’ve seen the videos, and we can’t wait to rectify it,” he added.

The Indian veteran said it is pivotal for them to qualify for the Asian Cup so that they can test themselves against the best teams in the continent.

“We should qualify for every Asian Cup, and it’s mandatory. But I don’t want to put pressure on the boys and the team. Let’s take one game at a time. Hong Kong, of course, is going to be very crucial. But yes, for India, it’s a bare minimum to qualify for the Asian Cup, so that we can test ourselves with the best in Asia and keep proving that we are improving,” stated Chhetri.

India would look to come up with a complete show against Hong Kong.