Sunil Chhetri: How well we defend will tell us where we stand

Bengaluru: “Bittersweet moment,” said Sunil Chhetri. “More sweet than bitter,” he qualified while talking about how it would feel being in the stands in Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium on Friday when India play Panama in the first of the three friendlies in the next fortnight, the other two being against Brazil (October 3) and Uruguay (October 6).

Planning for a likely farewell club season, the Bengaluru FC talisman retired for a second time from international football last November. But two decades of playing for India means pre-match routines become muscle memory.

“You know when the bus will leave, when the pre-match meeting happens. So, in that context it will feel a bit weird,” he told HT. “Also, I’ve not come to terms that I’m just a fan now.”

And even though no male footballer has played as long as he has (157 matches) and scored as many goals (95), Chhetri has missed some big-ticket games. Such as Bayern Munich v India in 2012—“that felt bad because all the top stars had come but my ankle was swollen this big,” he said, holding his palms close to each other in a circle—and the 0-0 draw away to Qatar in 2019. “I was running a temperature of 103 so, couldn’t even hug the boys,” he said, referring to the tie against the Asian champions.

“Because of the number of days you have been alive in football, such things will happen. The big misses have been mine only because I’ve played for so many years.”

The other reason why he is largely at peace is because Chhetri said: “I think I’m done when it comes to playing for the country….I don’t think there was anything left that I could have done.

“So, I’m just going to enjoy it. I hope us as a team can put the best foot forward and take as much as we can from this game… The graph has been going down for us as a national team, I just hope that we can bring some good results, good performances.”

Ranked 138th in the world, India failed to qualify for the 2027 Asian Cup finals after being at the high table of continental football for two successive editions in 2019 and 2023.

Crucial to a good show in games against two teams in the top 20 (Brazil and Uruguay) and Panama who are 44th will be India’s ability to defend, said Chhetri.

“Brazil are a different beast but Panama and Uruguay would give most Asian teams a good fight. So, how well we defend will tell us where we stand. Because, for many years, we will be one of those teams that must defend really well to get to where we have to. Especially away. So, break the game down to every five minutes… Tell yourself, “Keep a clean sheet.” And then think about what could happen next. These games will be really handy in helping you learn to do that.

“Also, what’s there to lose? It’s not that you are playing Australia and you might miss a qualification. That would be different.”

There have been a few memorable matches Chhetri has been part of. To the AFC Challenge Cup final in 2008 where he scored a hattrick (it remains the only one scored by an Indian male footballer in a final), he added the Asian Cup qualifier in Bengaluru against Kyrgyzstan in 2016 (Chettri scoring in the 1-0 win), the away win against Myanmar in 2017 and the away leg of the 2016 AFC Cup semi-final against Johor Darul Ta’zim.

“Eugenson Lyngdoh scored a great goal to make it 1-1 for us (Bengaluru FC). I am talking about these games because we are notoriously bad when we travel.” Bengaluru FC played the final of the second-tier Asian competition that year.

And a match JCT played against a selection from Santos, Brazil. “They were killing us but I was going mad, man. I had a back volley in that game. I tried stepovers. I was buzzing. And people were like: what the hell? “You lost 3-0.” I said, “Yeah, but you don’t play Santos…” So, that’s the thing now. When you are playing in teams like these, just go and enjoy it.”