‘Hungry’ Chhetri wants India in Asia’s top 10

MUMBAI: Sunil Chhetri may be second most prolific internationalgoalscoreramongactiveplayersbehind only Cristiano Ronaldo but the India captain has more modest aspirations for his country.

The forward, who turned 35 on Saturday and has notched 71 goals in 111 internationals, only wants to get India into the top echelons of Asian football before he finally retires.

“I don’t think I will ever be content. I am somebody who is always hungry,” Chhetri told Reuters in an interview.

“Whenever I do decide to hang (up) the boots or whenever I am forced to hang (up) my boots, I just want that my country is in the first 10 (in Asia) and stays there. “One thing that I really, really want is that India believes, and we all at least aspire, to be in the first 10.”

India’s obsession with and success on the cricket pitch has let it a massive underachiever on the football field and the national side is 103rd in the FIFA rankings, 18th among Asian nations. The path to where many believe India should be in the world rankings is long and hard but Chhetri believes the first step would be regular meetings with the likes of Japan, South Korea, Iran and Australia.

“If we are in the first 10, you are giving yourself a realistic chance to play against the best in Asia and then you always have the answer to how much you have to achieve more,” said Chhetri.

“It is really paramount for us to work hard, for all of us together ... and try and achieve that target as soon as possible.”

The usual sign of progress for a developing football nation is a place at the World Cup finals, something that India has never come close to achieving. No less than Virat Kohli, who by his status as India cricket luminary enjoys a much higher profile than Chhetri, said last week he thought his “inspirational” fellow national team captain deserved to play at the quadrennial showpiece event.