India men’s national team skipper and talisman, Sunil Chhetri has revealed that he is extremely satisfied with the Blue Tigers’ overall display in the third round of the AFC Asian Cup qualifiers campaign after securing a back-to-back qualification for the Asian Cup due to be held in the coming year.
India went into the Asian Cup qualifiers as the favourites and lived up to the tag, winning all three games to top their group, while also ensuring that their finished the campaign unbeaten.
Chhetri for his part showed once again why he is their most important player on the pitch, scoring four goals in three games to take his overall goal tally to 84 for his country – equalling Hungarian icon, Ferenc Puskas in the all-time international goalscoring list.
Dear Kolkata, just how special were you? The entire team and I are convinced that all of you at the Salt Lake, had a big part in all three of our wins. I hope we made you smile. These days with you were memorable. Let’s have a rendezvous soon. Until then, shobai bhalo thakben. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/JlJ7k32uRL
— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) June 15, 2022
“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,” he said post India’s 4-0 win over Hong Kong.
“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,” the striker added.
The India icon has reiterated time and again that he is looking to make the most of his time on the pitch, considering that he is 37-years-old and is coming to the end of his illustrious career.
