Chhetri in focus as India play Afghans
Doha, Jun 14: Goalmachine Sunil Chhetri will look to add to his tally and enter the all-time top 10 scorers’ list as a buoyant India meet Afghanistan in the joint 2022 World Cup and 2023 Asian Cup qualifiers here on Tuesday.
While the Indian team needs just a draw from their final game against Afghanistan to secure a place in the third round of AFC Asian Cup qualifiers after Oman defeated Afghanistan 2-1 on Friday, a hat-trick for Chhetri will see him equal the iconic Pele in terms of numbers of goals scored in the international arena.
Chhetri is also just one goal off entering the alltime top-10 list of goalscorers, something he can easily achieve against Afghanistan, if not a hattrick.
A Chhetri-inspired India ended their winless run in international football when the captain struck a brace against Bangladesh in their previous outing.
The talk since then mostly centered around the Indian talisman surpassing
Chhetri is just one goal off entering the all-time top-10 list of goal-scorers, something he can easily achieve against Afghanistan.
the legendary Lionel Messi as international football’s second highest scorer among active players.
A veteran in top-flight at 36, Chhetri played down the comparisons with the Argentine global superstar, but he will certainly look to put his best foot forward come the next match and add to his tally of 74 goals.
If the Blue Tigers can avoid defeat in the upcoming match, they will finish third in their group, an improvement over the fifth-place result during the last campaign.
India are already out of contention to progress further in the World Cup qualifying campaign, and is now looking to secure a berth in 2023 Asian Cup, scheduled to be held in China.