A near-capacity crowd at the iconic Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata watched as the Indian national football team beat Hong Kong 4-0 on Tuesday to qualify for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.
captain Sunil Chhetri Thunderstorms impressed with the spectators who came to support the Blue Tigers expressed their desire to play the Asian Cup on home soil.
“The kind of form we are in, we would have loved to play at home. The way the fans are coming in and supporting us in numbers, it would be great to play here,” Chhetri said. In the Asian Cup for the first time in history.
India defeated Cambodia and Afghanistan before winning over Hong Kong in Group D of the third round of the Asian Cup Qualifiers. All matches were played at the Salt Lake Stadium, where India were playing at home for the first time in more than two years.
Chhetri praised the youth’s rise in the national team during the three-match campaign. “The kids are just amazing, they’d probably kill me for calling them kids, the boys are fantastic. We have the right mix of senior and junior players in the dressing room. You also have Liston (Colaco) and Suresh (Wangjam). Along with Akash (Mishra) and Roshan (Singh), who have been fantastic.”
Chhetri said, “Yes, a lot of youngsters are coming in, and Ishaan (Pandita) has also been excellent in training, and look what he did today. Ishaan and Sahal (Abdul Samad) are two players who deserve nights like this.” are,” said Chhetri. , who scored the second goal of the night, while Anwar Ali, Manveer Singh and Ishaan Pandita registered their names on the scoresheet.
Chhetri is set to play in the final of his third Asian Cup tournament after previous appearances in 2011 and 2019. Despite being 37 years old, the striker feels he is at his peak now. “Now I am reaching my peak. The last Asian Cup is already over. We want to work really hard. It doesn’t matter if I am there in the next big tournament or someone else gets the nod, India should be in the Asian Cup. I have said it already. It is paramount for us as a nation that we stay in the Asian Cup so that we can walk shoulder to shoulder with the best of India’s players, who often Doesn’t happen. This gives us an opportunity to play friendlies. Better ranked opponents leading up to the tournament,” said the talismanic striker.
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After scoring his 84th goal in the national color against Hong Kong, Chhetri leveled the list of all-time international goalscorers with Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas, where he is currently ranked joint-fifth. However, the Bengaluru FC man revealed that he doesn’t pay much attention to records.
“Feels good, but you have to move on. I don’t really think much about the record. I know I don’t have that many matches left for the number of matches I’ve played for the country. I want to go from there.” out and enjoy every game. I want to slide, I want to run and I want to do everything I can because I know it’s not really going to last long. It’s with me The best thing to happen is life – playing for my country. It’s an absolute honour, every part of it,” concluded Chhetri.
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