Sunil Chhetri on Wednesday lamented that Delhi did not have a football club of its own to inspire kids to play the sport.
Having a club becomes easier for the kids to at least start. “We have got to make sure we get the club back. We have to work on it and have an ISL club, an I-League club [or] a second division club, it has to be there,” said Chhetri.
“There are so many kids I know who aspire to play professionally, and if you don’t have anyone from your own state to look up to, it becomes difficult. Then you have to venture out to a different state to play sub-divisional football,” said the Indian football captain at an event organised by Herbalife Nutrition.
“I faced the situation when I was young. In the I-League, there wasn’t any club from Delhi, so I had to move out.
“It is not easy at all. I just hope the kids waiting for an opportunity in the I-League don’t have to go out.”
The top goal-scorer of the country stressed that shutting down clubs was never good. “Delhi turned to Odisha and FC Pune went to Hyderabad. Only they can answer why they went there. All the stakeholders who come to football should sustain and stay. Only then the sport is going to grow.”
Missed chances
Chhetri spoke about the missed chances against Bangladesh in World Cup Qualifiers’ second round. However, he lauded the team’s fitness against Qatar and Bangladesh.
“I was guilty of missing four chances. If you see the replay, we had some seven-eight chances. If you don’t convert your chances, you won’t win games. As simple as that,” said Chhetri.
The Padma Shri awardee felt that away matches in Dushanbe (against Afghanistan) and Oman will be very difficult. “If we get together and do what we did against Qatar, we back ourselves, we’re not scared, no matter who we play now.”
Disciplined regime
Chhetri added that head coach Igor Stimac and strength and conditioning coach Prof. Luka Radman have improved the team’s performances through an invigorating disciplined regime.
“Stimac is very well supported by the coaching staff. He works very hard on our core stability, on exercises before training, a lot of quick movements and a lot of gym work.”
