Sunil Chhetri played a key role in helping Bengaluru FC reach the final of the Indian Super League (ISL) 2022-23 season but the national team head coach Igor Stimac believes that the talismanic striker might be playing his last campaign, and hopes that the star player will save his best for the last.
India's next big assignment is the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar, which will kick off on January 12 to February 10 in 2024. Chhetri will play in his third continental showpiece, the most by an Indian, after captaining the side brilliantly during the qualification tournament in India in 2022.
"At his age, this will probably be his farewell from football. Obviously, Sunil may be playing his last season, and definitely his last Asian Cup. I'm quite sure that the upcoming months will be the best for Sunil Chhetri," Stimac was quoted as saying on the official All India Football Federation (AIFF) website.
The national team is currently in Kolkata for a five-day camp ahead of the Tri-Nation Football Tournament in Imphal from March 22. Chhetri, the third most prolific international goal scorer among active players with 84 strikes behind Cristiano Ronaldo (118) and Lionel Messi (98), was part of the Indian teams that featured in the 2011 and 2019 Asian Cup.
Chhetri, who won the tournament with Bengaluru FC in 2019, will hope to make it two trophies in the final to be played against ATK Mohun Bagan (ATKMB) on Saturday, March 18.
"Sunil Chhetri was nowhere to be seen this season. He was on the bench, waiting, preparing himself, working to take his weight down a few kilos, which is very difficult to handle at this age," said Stimac who has been given the target of reaching the Asian Cup quarterfinals if he wants to continue at the helm beyond that tournament.
"But when it was most needed, he was there for his club, helping them, and taking them to the finals. He scored the most decisive goals," he added.
With 10 months to go for the Asian Cup, the 106-ranked Blue Tigers will play their first international match since September when they take on higher-ranked Kyrgyz Republic (94) and Myanmar (159) in the international tournament in Imphal.
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