Kolkata: A brace from Captain Sunil Chhetri saw the Blue Tigers claim a 2-0 victory over Cambodia in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers at Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Kringan, Kolkata. The brace tallied up Sunil Chhetri’s count of international goals to 83.
India started with a good attack from the first minute of the game. However, Sandesh Jhingan received a yellow card in the early minutes after going for a all round attack. The attacking started bearing fruits at the 14th minute. A spot-kick from the 37 year-old gave India the much needed lead after forward Liston Colaco was startled during a run by Cambodia’s Kok Boris.
Proceeding towards half an hour, Sunil Chhetri was given a yellow card following an unintentional bang with Cambodian defender. Hul Kimhuy made some brilliant saves during the end of first quarter of the match.
Igor made a couple of changes in the second half. Udanta Singh came up for Manvir Singh following the later’s poor performance. Sahal came into action replacing Thapa. India took the driver’s seat from the beginning of second half. With short pass and more possession, India managed to keep a good hold of the game.
Numerous attacks from the Blue Tigers couldn’t find the Combodian nets until captain Sunil Chhetri puts his head in. An inswing corner from Brandon Fernandes found the captain’s head to roll into the top-right corner of the goalpost.
Indian talisman Sunil Chhetri was put on sub to treasure him for India’s next game against Afghanistan. Chettri seemed to be unhappy with it as he missed the hattrick chance. Sunil is now at third with 83 international goals, after Argentine superstar Leonel Messi(86) and Portuguese megastar Cristanio Ronaldo (117) .
