Led by charismatic striker Sunil Chhetri, India will look to start their campaign on a grand note by registering a big win against low-ranked Cambodia in their bid to make it to the AFC (Confederation of Asian Football) Asian Cup finals for the fifth time here on Wednesday.
Chhetri will try to score his 80th goal in his 126th match. Cristiano Ronaldo (117 goals in 188 matches) and Lionel Messi (86 goals in 162 matches) are being scored daily. None can be compared to these two but Chhetri will have a chance to overtake Messi in this tournament.
The Indian team is currently ranked 106th in the world rankings while Cambodia is 65 places below it at 171st. Apart from these two teams in Group D, Afghanistan (150) and Hong Kong (147) are included.
In such a situation, Chhetri will have chances to score goals. Chhetri is at the end of his career and qualifying for the Asian Cup will be special for the 37-year-old captain. With China withdrawing, the next Asian Cup will be held in late 2023 or 2024, and Chhetri may consider it the “last bastion” of his illustrious career.
Lost in three friendly matches:
India did not perform well before the qualifying matches of this continental competition. He had to face defeat in all the three international friendly matches he played before. Not only this, meanwhile, they lost 1-2 to Indian Super League team ATK Mohun Bagan while they beat I-League All Stars team 2-1 but Santosh Trophy runners-up Bengal held them to a 1-1 draw.
won the match seven months ago:
The Indian team won their last match at the international level more than seven months ago when they defeated Nepal 3-0 in the final of the SAIF Championship on 16 October 2021.
But the recent results have been extremely disappointing for the Igor Stimac-coached team. Chhetri has warned his teammates that if they don’t do well against Cambodia, half the battle will be lost here.
Injured Rahim may miss:
The biggest blow to coach Stimac in recent times has been the injury of Rahim Ali, who along with Chhetri started attacking the front line. As he started filling JJ Lalpekhula’s spot, he was ruled out due to a hamstring strain.
ATK Mohun Bagan forward Liston Colaso, Manveer Singh and Udanta Singh, who scored a hat-trick in the AFC Cup, could offer some options but Ali’s ball control and accurate passing is difficult to match. It will be interesting to see how Chhetri tackles this as he looks to qualify for the fifth Asian Cup.
The post AFC Asian Cup: Captain Chhetri eyes big win against Cambodia appeared first on Spotlight 7.
source https://spotlight7.com/sports/football/afc-asian-cup-captain-chhetri-eyes-big-win-against-cambodia/
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