Sunil Chetri wants to become inspiration
Indian Men’s Football Team captain Sunil Chhetri hopes to inspire young footballers to toil hard and not give up on their dreams. He also expressed immense gratitude to those who have supported and encouraged him. Recently he gave an interview. “I just hope that I can inspire young Indian players to give their best and keep going. If you keep working hard and try to do the right things, you can achieve a lot. And for the ones who have supported me, have encouraged me, I want to convey my immense gratitude. You may think that how a boy sitting in Uttar Pradesh or Andaman could make a difference for me, but every bit of support I receive counts. And the common thing between us all is that we all want to see Indian Football do we”, he said.
Amazing career of playing 150 Matches for Indian football team
Chhetri played his 150th match for India when the Blue Tigers took on Afghanistan at the Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday, March 26. India lost the match with 2:1 score line. He made his international debut on June 12, 2005, against arch-rivals Pakistan in a 1-1 draw at Quetta. About his incredible footballing journey and achievements over the years, the elated skipper said he never thought that he could play for India. “When I started, I never dreamt of playing for the country one day. In fact, even a few days back, I was not aware that I was on the verge of such a record. When you pause and think about it, it’s an unbelievable feat. I’m very fortunate, extremely thankful, and highly privileged to be in this state. I think I’m the only one to play 150 games for the country in India. I’m really fortunate that I got such an opportunity,” Chhetri added.
Most Memorable and Difficult Match
When asked about the most memorable and the most difficult match he had played for the Indian Team, the talisman rued about the missed qualification opportunity in one of the games against Myanmar in 2011.
There are quite a few matches which were quite difficult. There was an AFC Challenge Cup after the 2011 AFC Asian Cup that we played in Myanmar,” Chhetri said. “That was the first step towards qualification for the Asian Cup. We played horribly and ended up losing a match that we should not have lost. And what was at stake is exactly why I think it was one of the most difficult games. But we later realised what an opportunity we missed, if we had carried on, we could have played the Asian Cup in 2015.”
He talked about his Coach
Sukhwinder Singh was Sunil Chhetri’s first coach in international football and was also his former boss man at JCT (Jagatjit Cotton & Textile Football Club). Highlighting the impact Singh has had on his career, India’s highest goal scorer and the most capped player asserted: “I think when I played under him, that was the right time to do so for me. I learned a lot as to what not to do as a player on the pitch, and Sukhi Sir has had a massive role in teaching me things. He allowed me to do the things that came naturally to me. They call me ‘Captain Cool’, but I wasn’t always so cool and calm. I was quite mischievous, I was quite haywire. He helped me understand what serious football is, he had a massive role in turning that little boy in me into a man.”
94 Goals
In the 150 matches he has played so far for India, Sunil Chhetri has scored 94 goals and is currently the fourth-highest goal scorer in the all-time list of top international men’s football goal scorers, only behind Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, Iran’s Ali Daei, and Argentina’s Lionel Messi.