I will retire when I will not be enjoying my training sessions: Sunil Chhetri

 

India’s football captain Sunil Chhetri has said he will keep playing till the time he is enjoying the game and the training sessions. Chhetri revealed he will hang his boots the day he will not be enjoying the game. The 37-year-old talisman has had a glorious career and he will look to keep up the good show in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup qualifiers.

Chhetri said he can’t reveal his retirement time as he is still enjoying the grinding work. The linchpin has scored a total of 80 goals for India in International matches, which is second-best to Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo among the current active players.

“Same question was asked before the last Asia Cup (2019) that ‘what next’ and I said the same thing. Five years have passed. It’s the same now. I was 32 then, now I’m 37-38. I don’t know, maybe. Right now, I’m enjoying it. I enjoy sprinting with Udanta (Singh), enjoying headers with (Sandesh) Jhingan, and scoring against Gurpreet. The day I don’t (enjoy), I’ll be done, I can’t give you a number when,” Chhetri was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

“It’s not easy to get up at 6 o’clock every day or do a 30-minute yoga session before everyone wakes up. It’s a very, very strict life that I live. It’s not easy to do it for 21 years” he added.

Meanwhile, the Blue Tigers will begin their campaign against Cambodia at the Salt Lake Stadium, Kolkata on June 8. India also has Afghanistan in their group, which is a strong unit.

However, the 37-year-old believes it is imperative for his team to concentrate on their game against Cambodia and then think about Afghanistan.

“If we don’t do well against Cambodia, you have lost half your battle. As of now, we are just thinking about Cambodia. Once we are done with them, we will think about Afghanistan. No doubt, Afghanistan are strong,” he said.

“The mood is happy, and slowly and steadily everyone is getting fit, everyone is trying to understand each other. It’s quite a new team and a lot of places are up for grabs. There is also a lot of new talent coming up. The good part is that everyone is hungry. We are hoping to get the right balance. Irrespective of who gets a chance, we are looking to put the best foot forward,” Chhetri told the AIFF Media team.

India will have the home advantage on their side as all the matches will take place in Kolkata. The captain added that playing at Salt Lake Stadium is a surreal feeling.

“It (Playing at Salt Lake Stadium) is a surreal feeling, and the respect has been a mutual one. For the past few years, I have been playing against them for the club, but whenever I have worn the national team jersey, it’s always been genuine support, and that’s what I am expecting even this time. Football fans in Kolkata will never fail you,” Chhetri said.

“Simply because we have got home advantage, I’d say it would have been better if we got two games purely on the fact that we are playing at home. But it is what it is. It doesn’t matter now, and everyone has a fair