Xtra Time Web Desk : Talismanic Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri will return to action for the national team during next month’s Asian Cup qualifiers, confirmed head coach Igor Stimac as he looked confident about the country winning the tournament and book a ticket for the continental showpiece in China next year.
The 37-year-old Chhetri will return to action after six months, having last played for India during their 3-0 win over Nepal in the SAFF Championships final in October.
Stimac said Chhetri is back to his full fitness and will be the “main force and strength” of the team.
“Sunil is still here, he’s still in great shape,” Stimac said when asked how long Chhetri can prolong his career.
We didn’t involve him in Bahrain and Belarus games because he needed time to recover from some minor problems he was facing throughout the last couple of years.
“That time has served very well to Sunil. He has recovered very well. He’s showing that on the training pitch every day and still at this point he will be the main force and strength of the Indian national team up front.” Chhetri had suffered minor niggles and missed out of the friendlies against Belarus and Bahrain in March.
“We have enough quality in our team with the players who are here with us to make sure that India qualifies and that’s what we’re going to do. I see India in the final stages and there is no doubt about it. We’re going to have great support in the stands here,” added Stimac about the chances of India in the upcoming matches.
India will now play two practice games — against ATK Mohun Bagan (Wednesday) and I-League all stars (May 17) before flying to Doha to play two more friendlies against Zambia (May 25) and Jordan (May 28) in the build up to the Asian qualifiers.