Football: All eyes on Sunil Chhetri, and Igor Stimac

Kolkata, September 20

Fresh from the Durand Cup triumph with Bengaluru FC, veteran Sunil Chhetri will lead the Indian attack in the upcoming Hung Thinh friendly football tournament in Vietnam, as coach Igor Stimac today named a 23-member squad.

The Indian football team will play against hosts Vietnam and Singapore in Ho Chi Minh City. The squad left for Vietnam today. Stimac sounded upbeat about India’s chances in the two matches. “We are definitely capable of winning the tournament, but I think it’s the small things that will decide who wins it,” said Stimac. “Obviously, Vietnam have a lot of momentum with their performances in the last couple of years. They have a good team, and are playing at home, which is why they are probably the favourites, but we also have a good chance as we have a young squad. I think we have enough quality to match them, and if we stay positive and play with a good mind-set, we can do it,” he added.

Stimac, however, said that most of his players were still in pre-season mode, and that rotation would be the order of the day for the Blue Tigers.

“It’s a good challenge for us, though we need to make sure that we combine and rotate our players in a proper way. We need to make sure that nobody gets injured, because most of the players we have are still in pre-season mode,” said Stimac.

The 55-year-old said the team was “surrounded” by positivity. “With regards to the momentum that we have after the June AFC Asian Cup Qaulifiers, the optimism is high and the positivity which currently surrounds the team should only bode well for us,” he said.