Goal.com caught up with the rising star of Indian football Sunil Chhetri and discussed AFC Challenge Cup football and much more…..
Interview carried by Rahul Bali
India are gunning for glory in the AFC Challenge Cup’08 that is to start in Hyderabad on Wednesday and Goal.com’s man at the scene Rahul Bali has been catching up with several of the key players in the Indian national football team.
This time he spoke to the star Indian striker Sunil Chhetri, who is visibly and understandably optimistic about his team’s chances in the competition.
But at the same time Chhetri doesn’t underestimate India’s Wednesday’s opponent, Afghanistan, whom they play in their Group A encounter on Wednesday.
He said, “Afghanistan are a very good side. I watched them in the SAFF Cup semi-final against Bhutan. They played well but lost in the end.”
When asked about the ground facilities available to the players at Hyderabad for preparation of the matches, the East Bengal striker said, “I am saddened by the state of the ground conditions here. Even the third division grounds in Portugal are better than these grounds.”
The conversation consequently turned towards the three friendly matches that India played very recently in Portugal.
All of those matches were against lower division sides but Sunil Chhetri is very much impressed by the conditions of the grounds in which these lowly placed clubs in Portugal play.
Recounting the facilities that they received in Portugal, the 23-year old said that some of those third division sides had two grounds! He also mentioned that each of these grounds were attended to by eight or nine groundsmen.
Chhetri also remarked that there are around 1300 clubs whose stadiums are better than the stadiums than they played in Portugal, which are in turn better than the best stadiums in India.
Carrying on with the discussion of footballs stadiums, Sunil Chhetri then spoke on the stadiums in Qatar and Maldives. Chhetri said that when he was in Qatar during the Asian Games, he observed that there were 20 grounds on one side with sand on the other.
Chhetri then described the situation in Maldives. He said that when the national team of Maldives plays in any of their stadiums, a huge crowd comes to cheer them on. When Maldives played Sri Lanka in the semi-final of the SAFF Cup, 7000 people from Maldives flew in to Colombo to watch the match and overwhelmed the stadium in red.
But Chhetri is confident that the situation in India is going to be similar. He does admit that Delhi would have been a better choice for the AFC Challenge Cup given the high standard of the stadiums there and the good crowd support but exudes hope that winning the competition would still be a huge motive given that the winner qualifies directly 2011 Asian Cup and, Chhetri says, this will give the Under-16, Under-19 and the senior Indian national side a good lot of time to start preparing for the mega event.
Sunil Chhetri emphasizes on the “right utilization” of the resources that India already has. The young man is very much buoyed by India’s performances in recent times and is confident that they can achieve their ambition in the competition.
Interview carried by Rahul Bali
India are gunning for glory in the AFC Challenge Cup’08 that is to start in Hyderabad on Wednesday and Goal.com’s man at the scene Rahul Bali has been catching up with several of the key players in the Indian national football team.
This time he spoke to the star Indian striker Sunil Chhetri, who is visibly and understandably optimistic about his team’s chances in the competition.
But at the same time Chhetri doesn’t underestimate India’s Wednesday’s opponent, Afghanistan, whom they play in their Group A encounter on Wednesday.
He said, “Afghanistan are a very good side. I watched them in the SAFF Cup semi-final against Bhutan. They played well but lost in the end.”
When asked about the ground facilities available to the players at Hyderabad for preparation of the matches, the East Bengal striker said, “I am saddened by the state of the ground conditions here. Even the third division grounds in Portugal are better than these grounds.”
The conversation consequently turned towards the three friendly matches that India played very recently in Portugal.
All of those matches were against lower division sides but Sunil Chhetri is very much impressed by the conditions of the grounds in which these lowly placed clubs in Portugal play.
Recounting the facilities that they received in Portugal, the 23-year old said that some of those third division sides had two grounds! He also mentioned that each of these grounds were attended to by eight or nine groundsmen.
Chhetri also remarked that there are around 1300 clubs whose stadiums are better than the stadiums than they played in Portugal, which are in turn better than the best stadiums in India.
Carrying on with the discussion of footballs stadiums, Sunil Chhetri then spoke on the stadiums in Qatar and Maldives. Chhetri said that when he was in Qatar during the Asian Games, he observed that there were 20 grounds on one side with sand on the other.
Chhetri then described the situation in Maldives. He said that when the national team of Maldives plays in any of their stadiums, a huge crowd comes to cheer them on. When Maldives played Sri Lanka in the semi-final of the SAFF Cup, 7000 people from Maldives flew in to Colombo to watch the match and overwhelmed the stadium in red.
But Chhetri is confident that the situation in India is going to be similar. He does admit that Delhi would have been a better choice for the AFC Challenge Cup given the high standard of the stadiums there and the good crowd support but exudes hope that winning the competition would still be a huge motive given that the winner qualifies directly 2011 Asian Cup and, Chhetri says, this will give the Under-16, Under-19 and the senior Indian national side a good lot of time to start preparing for the mega event.
Sunil Chhetri emphasizes on the “right utilization” of the resources that India already has. The young man is very much buoyed by India’s performances in recent times and is confident that they can achieve their ambition in the competition.
