He is the toast of the nation but Sunil Chhetri, captain of the Indian national football team, prefers reality to euphoria. After leading India to a title triumph in the Intercontinental Cup on Sunday evening in Mumbai, some celebrities, leaders and fans started talking about India being good enough to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in near future. The 32-year-old talismanic striker, however, didn't hesitate from showing the mirror to all such fans, saying that India should first aim to become a top and competitive team in Asia rather than dream about the World Cup.
“People often talk to me about India playing the World Cup. At the moment, our aim should be different. Our target now is to figure among the top 10 teams in Asia. It is a difficult job. Once we can do it, then you know how to catch up with best teams in the continent, say Japan, Korea or Australia. We should go step by step,” said Chhetri during a promotional event in the capital.
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India are presently in one of their most successful phase in terms of FIFA world rankings—97. They are ranked 14th in Asia.
Mindful of not downplaying the team's latest success, Chhetri said, “The last few days were special but winning the Intercontinental Cup was not easy. In between, we lost to New Zealand and we were struggling. But, in the end, we all came back strongly to win the cup.”
The Indian skipper had made a heart-rendering request to football fans at home to come out and support the team and watch them play in Mumbai. It struck a chord with the fans, who then turned up in large numbers at the stadium despite heavy rains.
Chhetri capped a fantastic run in international games when he scored a brace to beat Kenya 2-0 in the finals of the Intercontinental Cup. He was the top scorer in the tournament scoring eight goals and has now scored 64 goals for his country in 102 matches. Among the currently active players, only Cristiano Ronaldo (81) has more international goals than the 32-year-old Indian captain. Asked about his terrific run both in the blue jersey as well as his club Bengaluru FC colours, Chhetri said, “Football is my life. I am actually living a dream these days,” he said.
Commenting on India's upward journey in FIFA rankings and good show in recent times, the extremely articulate Chhetri said, “It is a long journey…. although we have started well. We have a great batch of players, who can inspire and improve. We have some wonderful players like Gurpreet (Sandhu), Jeje (Lalpekhlua) or Udanta (Singh), who have immense talent.”
The next big challenge for Chhetri and his boys is the Asia Cup in January 2019. Leading from the front, the team has qualified convincingly for the main draw. “We should play as many away matches as possible also. In Indian jersey, we have done relatively well in home matches, but should also test ourselves by playing abroad,” Chhetri said.
Asked which team was his favourite to win the World Cup starting later this week, Chhetri refused to reveal it. “It is a great opportunity to watch good football. World Cup is the only occasion when you get to watch all the stars together. I am feeling excited… and if you talk about one player I am looking forward to watch, then it is Lionel Messi,” he said.
He dismissed comparisons with Messi. "There is absolutely no comparison. These are world-class players. I have seen the graphics on me getting same number of goals as Messi. One should just watch these memes, be happy and forget about it."