Kolkata: Sunil Chhetri, India’s greatest match-winner of the recent times, scored another remarkable goal against Kyrgyz Republic on Tuesday to give India a significant victory in the 2019 AFC Asia Cup Qualifiers. The Indian Captain revealed the mystery behind his phenomenal performance last night in a special interaction with www.xtratime.in journalist Suman Chakravorty on phone. Here goes the conversation.
XT: How significant this win has been against Kyrgyz Republic?
Sunil: Kyrgyz Republic has improved a lot in the last four or five years. A lot of their players are playing in European Leagues. This is a an important win for us, as when we go outside of our country for the away games, things could get hostile, you never know what would happen there. So yes, it was a very big victory for us.
XT: You are getting older, but you are getting sharper as well. What is the mystery behind it?
Sunil: Good training man nothing else, in my whole career I have always tried to be one of the fittest and fastest players. You can talk about age but it doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s always matters how you take care about yourself, as you know. The desire that you have to take care of yourself and the club you are playing for. All these things are very important.
XT: As you know that you are now amongst the top 4 active goalscorers for the national team in world football and just surpassed the legendary Wayne Rooney. How special is this bracket of Ronaldo and Messi?
Sunil: It feels good my friend but what more important is that I am doing this for my country. As long as I am doing this for my country I am not thinking about these personal achievements but all I can say is that it is a very good feeling.
XT: At one stage, the team was struggling during the 2018 Russia World Cup Qualifiers but after that, you have won eight games on a trot. According to you what has been the significant change?
Sunil: The things were new. There were new players. Jeje in the last two or three years has been formidable. The young players have understood their responsibilities, like Anas was superb in the last night. The other players are also enjoying their roles and the things are getting better.
XT: How inspiring this win is for the Indian colts ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup?
Sunil: I hope that they can get motivated from this victories and this spell of Indian football. Our support will always be there for the U-17 World Cup team. The entire nation would be cheering for them. What they have to do is that they have to enjoy the moment and the big occasion. My message for them will be to play the natural game and enjoy the special event. Don’t think too much of the other things.
XT: Any special phone call from your fiance before the all important match against the Kyrgyz Republic?
Sunil: Yeah her phone call was special before the game. She is really very encouraging and the most important thing is that she loves the game. I’m lucky to have a partner like her. On the other hand my mom and dad are very passionate for the game too.
XT: In the next FIFA Ranking in July India maight jump to the double digits after two decades. What is your reaction regarding this?
Sunil: It doesn’t matter to me as you know. My only aim is to win games for my country and qualify for the Asia Cup. Yes the nation will be happy if we make it to the double digits but our aim is to do well in our next games and qualify for the AFC Asia Cup 2019.