CHHETRI: WE NEED FANS TO HELP US WIN

FOUR years after he made a similar appeal in Mumbai, Indian national captain Sunil Chhetri once again called on fans to attend games in large numbers during the team’s upcoming Asian Cup qualifiers beginning on Wednesday (8). It was during the InterContinental Cup in Mumbai in 2018 that Chhetri made an emotional appeal to fans on social media ahead of their match against Kenya. The next day, a packed Mumbai Football Arena (MFA) witnessed Chhetri and his team defeat Kenya 3-0.

Chhetri, who will complete 17 years in international football next Sunday (12), said the fans could make a “massive difference” at the 70,000-capacity Salt Lake Stadium in the football-mad city of Kolkata.

“I genuinely love you guys... With you behind us, it’s a different level,” the star Indian forward said in his message posted on the Indian football team’s Twitter pahe.

India kick off their campaign in the final leg qualifiers against Cambodia before facing Afghanistan on Saturday (11) and Hong Kong next Tuesday (14).

Tickets for the three matches are available on the www.bookmyshow. com portal and at the stadium and the Indian Football Association (IFA) counters for “free”.

“Let the three teams that are going to play against us, play against us plus you, because that will be a massive difference. So, if you’re free, please come. We will try to make it a good experience for you guys,” he added.

These will be India’s first home games since October 2019, when a lowly-ranked Bangladesh side held them to a 1-1 draw in Kolkata.

“Last time, when we played here we played against Bangladesh, there were 50,000+ of you in the stadium. I cannot tell you how happy we were...”, he said.

Apologising for the team’s performance, Chhetri promised that the Blue Tigers would make up for the disappointing result last time.

“We couldn’t get a result as good as the support you gave. Apologies, because we didn’t do well. But please come again this time. We’ll try our best to put in the best effort that we can,” he said.

India will be hoping to make the 24-team Asian Cup finals for the second successive time, and fifth appearance in the event overall.