Igor Stimac hopes fans make Sunil Chhetri’s farewell a grand affair

Bhubaneswar, May 24

Indian football team head coach Igor Stimac expects fans from all over the country to throng the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata during the country’s World Cup qualification match against Kuwait on June 6, which will also be the last international match for talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri.

The match against Kuwait will mark the end of Chhetri’s glittering 19-year international career during which he became India’s top goalscorer with 94 strikes. He will leave the scene as India’s most-capped player after competing in 151 matches at the end of his swansong contest. A win against Kuwait will also put India in a strong position to make it to the third round of the World Cup qualifiers for the first time in its history.

“Having in mind the importance of the game — with us being perhaps only a win away from qualifying for the third round for the first time, and it being Sunil Chhetri’s farewell game — we expect the Salt Lake Stadium to be packed,” Stimac said.