New Delhi: As many fans have been celebrating the one year anniversary of India’s 0-0 draw against Qatar in the World Cup Qualifiers, Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri announced that he is 100 per cent fit for the upcoming ISL season. The 36-year-old said that draw against Qatar has changed the course of Indian football. It made them believe that they can stop and win against other Asian football Giants.
“I don’t think there is anyone in the country more sad and depressed that we have three points from the first five qualifiers. These are probably going to be my last qualifiers and my last shot at playing at the World Cup,” said the talismanic captain.
“When I saw my team play the Qatar game, that gave me so much hope of what is possible if we have the right poise, the right coaching, the right mentality. It’s what we are truly capable of, it’s not a fluke when you go to Qatar and play one of the best teams in Asia and put on such a performance.”
Speaking about the Afghanistan and Bangladesh matches, he mentioned about the missed opportunities by the forwards. “From there, the way we played Bangladesh at home and Afghanistan away was such a low, the ones to be blamed are the players and especially the strikers. There is no going around it, I still remember there was a corner against Aghanistan and I missed from point-blank range, you can’t change these things,” said Chhetri.
The current second-highest international goal scorer after Cristiano Ronaldo, Chhetri has always been enthusiastic while playing for the national colours. “Every game that I play for my country from here, we try and achieve what we did against Qatar, not result-wise but performance-wise because that is what we are capable of. Every match we should aim to give all we have as we did against Qatar. That game should be our benchmark, win or lose. Good days for Indian football are not far,” he concluded.
