Indian national team coach Stephen Constantine was gushing praises for Sunil Chhetri after the Blue Tigers dominated higher ranked side Puerto Rico 4-1 in Mumbai. In what was the first international friendly held in the city for over 60 years, India emerged as comfortable winners.
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The visitors got off to a good start when Emmanuel Sanchez converted a penalty in the 7th minute, but the goal seemed to galvanise the Indian team, who put on a superb performance to pull the game back and control the match. The key man for India on the night was none other than Sunil Chhetri, who set up two goals and also scored one of his own to claim the Man of the Match award.
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“Sunil is the talisman of this Team. He is a wonderful Player,” said Stephen Constantine after the match. “He has been scoring goals for the last ten years. I keep teasing him, saying ‘your time is almost done,’ but he’s not having that. He says he has another 4-5 years in him.”
“But look, he keeps himself in great shape,” the coach confirmed. “He is one of the leaders of the Team, the Captain. And as long as he’s fit, he plays.”
The Englishman was also quick to point out Chhetri’s versatility and work rate on the football field, and revealed his thoughts about where he prefers to play the Indian captain. “For a Player of his calibre, you have to find the space for him. For me, his place is behind the striker. He brings other people into the game. He has an eye for goal, he sees the pass, and he works,” he stated.
“Personally, I like to play him behind the striker. In some games, I like him on the left or the right, but at this point in his career, I see him playing behind the striker,” he maintained.
The coach has blooded a lot of youngsters since taking over in March of last year. 30 players have made their senior debuts for India under Constantine so far, and this game provided an opportunity to two more, as Daniel Lalhimpuia and Germanpreet Singh made their first appearances for the Blue Tigers.
Constantine expressed his delight at being able to play against South American opposition, and also relishes the challenge of facing higher ranked teams. “I hate losing. So whenever we win, it’s okay for me. Beating Puerto Rico who are above us in the rankings would help. We also had two more youngsters who got a taste of International Football today,” he quipped. “They are 38 places above us. Anyone above us is good enough. The match gave us an opportunity to play against South American opposition which we do not normally do.”
The Indian team have been in sensational form, with nine wins in their last eleven games. However, they appear to be a little slow off the mark, often taking some time to find their feet in a game. Recognising this issue, Constantine said “Puerto Rico were very good on the ball. We needed some time to get into our stride. Ideally, when we’re playing bigger and better sides, we need to start quickly as on another day we may not get back into the game. Today we were fortunate to equalise early and then take the game from there.”
The coach was also clearly impressed by the playing surface and the noise levels in the stadium. “Aditya (Thackeray) and his group have done an unbelievable job to get the pitch as close to perfect as you can get it. The atmosphere by the Mumbai fans was excellent. There were only six or seven thousand but it felt like some twenty thousand. I hope it’s not another 61 years before there’s another game here,” he said with a smile.
