It was a great win against a higher-ranked team, says Sunil Chhetri
In a great start to the season, India downed higher-ranked Puerto Rico 4-1 in a friendly on Saturday. Orchestrating the entire match with his sublime passing creating 2 goals and scoring one was skipper Sunil Chhetri, who called it a great win and said India would to improve upon their performance.
The crowd that had come to cheer India at Mumbai for the friendly were treated to an unexpected spectacle as India erased an early one-goal deficit to strike 4 goals through the game. Speaking about the decisive win against their higher-ranked opponents, skipper Sunil Chhetri said, "The younger ones were more cheerful, which is understandable. We were really happy. It was a great win. It's not every day that we play a much higher-ranked team. It was a handsome win. We conceded a penalty early on but we came strongly back in the game. It was good to have four different scorers. A couple of debutants were also there. There were a lot of positives from the Puerto Rico friendly. In the last 8-9 games, we have done really well as a team. We need to stay grounded. We are not the best team in the world. We are just improving and we need to make sure that we keep improving," reported PTI.
Chhetri, however, begrudged the fact that India have not played more international games and sad they would look to correct that and fight for a higher ranking.
I was never a big fan of FIFA rankings. For me, we just beat a CONCACAF team and have done well in the last couple of months. We were playing after a very long time in Mumbai. We were not sure when we were going to play the next international friendly. I am not trying to blame anyone, but we don't play enough friendlies. So whenever we get a chance, we have to make the most of it. Overall, the result was very satisfying. I hope we sneak in one more international this year. FIFA rankings are very important for us. Whenever a draw is made, ranking comes in handy. If we do not play enough games, we won't have a chance to improve our ranking.
Coach Stephen Constantine has been instrumental in the team's performance as he has blended experience with youth discovering new talents and blooding them meticulously. Chhetri praised the way Constantine has managed the change of guard in the team and said, "Stephen is not on a mission to hand a debut to everyone. It's the given scenario. When he came, a lot of senior players were on the verge of leaving. It was a transition period. It's not that he enjoys bringing in fresh recruits. It's just the way things are right now. This way, the pool gets bigger. It's good but we are in a transition period and this is going to happen."
"I hope the squad of 15 gives enough reason for the coach to play the same team. Although I am a fan of bringing in new players, but once we have those 15 players, they need to work really hard to stay in the team and stabilise the first XI. That's how successful teams are made," he added.
Chhetri also pointed to lessons from the Puerto Rico game where India had conceded the early goal and said, "There have been a few games where we haven't started strongly. We can't afford concede early. This is something we really need to work upon," reported PTI.
The talisman also said that he was willing to play in any position where the team needs him.
"I like playing behind the striker but I would play wherever the coach wants me to play. I have played in the left wing for Bengaluru FC for three years. We won two trophies. I think I did really well. It added something to my game. If the coach sees something in me then I will surely give it a try," he concluded.
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