Sunil Chhetri: The plan is to get as many as possible to mark me

The striker also feels that emphasis should be on the team itself, not on him.

As the Indian football team gear up to face Bangladesh in their next FIFA World Cup Qualifiers clash, captain Sunil Chhetri spoke to the press about his thoughts regarding the game on Monday.

Sunil Chhetri pointed out that expectations do not always help, as the Indian captain feels that everything is not about him on the day, but about the team as a whole.

"Big expectations won’t help me. What I have done in the previous games never helps me. The experience does, but the amount of goals I have scored hasn’t helped me. Only if we play as a team, we will get three points. If we lose 4-3 and I score a hat-trick, nobody will be happy. It doesn’t matter what I do on the pitch and its what the team does instead," Chhetri said.

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"Even if we win the game tomorrow and I miss a few sitters, everyone will forgive me. But, we need to give a professional performance tomorrow. We must bring our best foot forward and be as difficult as Bangladesh for tomorrow. After executing that plan, if I score in the game then I will be very happy,” the striker added.

Sunil Chhetri also feels that this new Indian team under Igor Stimac is different and if players who are not in the starting XI can work hard in training, they can find their way back to the squad in no time.

Change Of Attitude In Squad

“I think this is one of the very good changes in our team right now. The importance of who is going to play is so less and the importance of how the team is going to play tomorrow is much more. He has come with no prejudice and no bias, but given everyone who deserves to play their due."

"The boys get all the credit for the result. It doesn’t matter who will play tomorrow. The team will play to their very best. That’s the kind of character we have in the team right now. Every day he keeps you on the toes and whoever does the best in training gets to play. The youngsters know they can make their mark if they work hard enough. This competitiveness is great and everyone in the team works very hard, as they know they’ll get their chances.”

Responding To Bangladesh's Plan Of Man Marking

Sunil Chhetri also responded to Bangladesh head coach Jamie Day's statement on marking him tightly and not allowing space, as he feels there will be open spaces for others to capitalize on, if more opposition players are committed to him.

“The plan is to get as many as possible to mark me. If four people mark me, then they’ll be down to six. If all the emphasis is put on me, then I’ll be very happy. It’ll never be about me. But, if someone wants to mark me then we have other players much fitter than me to make a grander impact,” Chhetri remarked.

"I can’t say what Bangladesh coach (has said), but if you have seen the Qatar-India match you can see the Indian team doesn’t need Sunil Chhetri for a big performance,” he opined.

Emphasis On Team Game

“I’ll love if we get all three points and that’s what we’re working hard on. I don’t put myself under pressure when it comes to scoring. It comes naturally and sometimes it doesn’t come. I don’t try anything like that and nobody pressurizes me like that to score goals. Now, I am scoring goals, but soon you’ll see Manvir (Singh), Sahal (Abdul Samad) and Brandon (Fernandes) chipping in. The age gap is so much. Tomorrow, I just want three points and it doesn’t matter even if Gurpreet Singh (Sandhu) scores the goal,” Sunil Chhetri said.

"Of course we always expect to keep on improving in our future games. We had a great game against Qatar, even if we all know it was all waves of Qatari players coming forward in the game. But, we manage to keep our stance disciplined and compact. We proved to everyone that we can keep clean-sheets against the best," he added.

Igor Stimac on Gurpreet Singh Sandhu

Indian national team coach Igor Stimac also praised Gurpreet Singh Sandhu for his performance against Qatar. However, he also feels that the overall team was responsible for churning out a draw.

"Gurpreet, was of course amazing. But, defending doesn’t start from the back five. It starts with Sunil’s position. You know when you’re praising someone that, all he’s done is because of his teammates who are doing a fantastic job in front of him. Our attack also starts with our goalkeeper. I hope that tomorrow we’ll go into another higher level and that we’ll win three points. We have done a great job up until now, but tomorrow is another day and we must prove that we’ve advanced our game further,” the Croatian quipped.

The Indian coach is concerned about the overlapping November national camp and the ISL, but hopes that the two parties will come together and find a solution.

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“We are concentrated on this game only, but not on the future one. We shouldn’t be thinking about anything beyond that. But, I have to and I need to say I’m very worried about the November camp. We must try everything possible to somehow find a way with the ISL, to help us in organizing a proper camp in November. As it is now, things look pretty promising for us.”

Chhetri signed off by speaking about the madness surrounding the game in Kolkata and feels that the fans can be an advantage for them and a disadvantage for the away team.

“My family is going to be part of the fans fraternity tomorrow. My wife and my family travel everywhere we play. I love playing in Kolkata. There are very few places where we get the buzz we do here. For the national team, in Kochi, we got something like 40,000+ people among the fans. When you look at more than the figure, it’s amazing that the city helps us like this. It’s an advantage for us and a disadvantage for the away team. It’s a great feeling to get this huge kind of support.”