Sunil Chhetri
– Photo: Social Media
Expansion
Indian football captain Sunil Chhetri on Sunday backed head coach Igor Stimac’s demand for at least a four-week long camp ahead of next year’s Asian Cup, saying the team needs a lot of time to prepare to take on the best teams in the continent. Is. The 38-year-old Sunil Chhetri will play his final Asian Cup in Doha (from January 12 to February 10) and will also have at least one ODI against any of the top seven ranked teams in Asia, such as Iran, Japan or Saudi Arabia, ahead of the continental tournament. Also advocated for holding international friendly matches.
Sunil Chhetri said in a virtual interaction with the media that we are going to face Australia, Uzbekistan and Syria in the Asian Cup (group match), so Stimac (and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu) talked about long camps. We need it and I hope we get it. He credited the long camp of more than 50 days for the success of the team in the last two tournaments, saying that when you go to the national camp, there are injuries to the players and they come with a different mental level from their respective clubs. Are. You have to see all these things and to do all this you need more time.
India has won three tournaments this year
After winning the tri-nation international tournament in Manipur from March 22 to 28, India won the Intercontinental Cup in Bhubaneswar from June 9 to 18 and the SAFF Championship in Bengaluru from June 21 to July 4. The players were in the national camp from mid-May till the SAFF Championship. Stimac had said that he would need at least a four-week camp to do well in the Asian Cup, while top officials of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) indicated that his demand would be difficult to meet as clubs were not able to train their players. Might not agree to release for such a long time in the middle of the domestic season.
Sunil Chhetri said this
Chhetri, who was adjudged the ‘Most Valuable Player’ as the top scorer in the SAFF Championship, also said the team needs to play at least one international match against a country ranked in the top six or seven in the continent ahead of the Asian Cup. He said that if we get at least two or three important international friendly matches before the Asian Cup against a country ranked in the top six or seven in Asia, then it will give us a better idea of our preparation. Will go and with this we will be able to prepare well.
Chhetri said, “If I name, these countries can be Iran, Japan or Saudi Arabia. If we don’t play against Japan, Iran or South Korea, we will not know the level of Australia (India’s strong rival in Asian Cup).”
