Chhetri equals Pele’s goal record in Nepal win

INDIA’S talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri (right) equalled the legendary Pele with his 77th international goal as his 83rd-minute strike helped his side beat Nepal 1-0 and saved them from the verge of elimination in the SAFF Championships last Sunday (10).

The 37-year-old Chhetri, playing in his 123rd match for India, struck a late goal to put himself even with the Brazilian great (77 goals from 92 matches).

He is now joint third with UAE’s Ali Mabkhout (77) in the list of highest scorers among active footballers, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (112) and Lionel Messi (79).

Substitute Farukh Chaudhary won a header in the penalty box, from a lobbed pass, and directed it towards the centre of the six-yard box, where Chhetri was waiting to fire the ball past Nepal goalkeeper Kiran Limbu.

Seven-time champions India are now at third spot with five points from three matches in the five-team table, below Maldives (six points from three games) and Nepal (six points from three).

India will still need to win their final round-robin league match on Wednesday (13) against hosts Maldives if they have to make it to Saturday’s (16) final.

A draw against Nepal would have put India on the verge of elimination.

The Indian team and its head coach Igor Stimac had been under pressure after drawing against lower-ranked Bangladesh (1-1) and Sri Lanka (0-0) in their previous matches.

India kept on creating chances in the match and were the dominant team throughout. But they were not able to put the finishing touches in the chances they got. Chhetri had also missed a big opportunity to score in the first half.

India had drawn against Nepal 0-0 and beat them 2-0 in the previous encounters this year before last Sunday’s win.