Qualifying for Asian Cup is of paramount importance, says Indian captain Sunil Chhetri after win against Hong Kong

The Indian national team finished off Asian Cup qualifiers in style as they demolished Hong Kong 4-1 to confirm their berth into the quadrennial tournament. Although India had already qualified before the match as Palestine defeated Philippines in the other group, confirming smooth passage for the Blue Tigers. But Igor Stimac’s men were desperate to stamp their authority and top the group and hence they came up with a fantastic display at the packed Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata.

It was Anwar Ali who scored the opening goal in the opening minute of the game, handing India the momentum and sending the crowd into raptures. Then came India’s talisman through Sunil Chhetri who scored his 84th matching the legend Ferenc Puskas. In the second half Manvir and Ishan Pandita came off the bench and showed that they also belong to this level.

After the match, Sunil Chhetri shared his thoughts on the campaign as he lauded the form that the entire team is in and he also shared how it would be great if the Asian Cup comes to India as he would love to play in front of the fans. “Looking at the kind of form we are in, we’d love to play at home. The way the fans are coming up, it would be great to play here (for the Asian Cup). On a serious note, I’m very very satisfied. I generally don’t use this word, but I’m satisfied with the performance of the team,” Chhetri stated.

The 37-year-old shared how it does not matter who is there or not in the next tournament but India should always be the preference. He shared how India should always qualify for the Asian Cup no matter what.“Yes, I think now I’m in the peak. It feels good. We really wanted to work hard. It doesn’t matter whether I or somebody else is there in the next tournament or not. India should be there and I’ve always said this. It is paramount for us as a nation to keep being there at the Asian Cup, so that we can compete with the best in Asia,” the Indian talisman explained.

Lastly the Indian captain lauded the youngsters for their superlative performances. He highlighted how the Indian team has the perfect balance of the experienced players along with the young and prodigious talents. “Yes, the kids are amazing. We’ve got the mixture really well now. We have the Gurpreets (Gurpreet Singh Sandhu) and Sandeshs (Jhingan), the Rahuls (Rahul Bheke) and the Khabras (Harmanjot Khabra) to make sure, we have the balance of seniority and youngsters — who want to go express themselves.

“You’ve also got Liston (Colaco) and Suresh (Wangjam) along with Akash (Mishra) and Roshan (Singh) — who’ve been brilliant. So yes, a lot of youngsters coming up and also Ishan (Pandita) has been outstanding in training too and look what he did today,” he concluded.