Indian football ace Sunil Chhetri will look to add to his tally and enter the all-time top 10 goalscorers’ list when the Blue Tigers take on Bangladesh in the first match of the 2021 edition of the SAFF Championship on Monday, October 4 in Male, Maldives. The star striker has 75 internationals goals to his name from 120 matches and he just needs two more strikes to equal Brazilian legend Pele‘s record of 77 goals.
A hat-trick against the Bengal Tigers will not only help the Indian talisman go past Pele but also go level with Hussein Saeed of Iraq, who has 78 goals from 137 matches. Apart from the match against Bangladesh, Igor Stimac’s men are scheduled to play a minimum of four international games and the star striker will certainly be eyeing addition to his tally in those fixtures.
Chhetri scored the winning goal against Nepal when the two sides locked horns in an international friendly earlier last month. Additionally, the 37-year-old scored a goal against Jamal Bhuyan and Co in a 2022 FIFA World Cup and AFC Asian Cup 2023 qualifier match in June this year which helped the Blue Tigers triumph over their Asian neighbours by a 2-0 scoreline in Doha. The veteran will be aiming to bring that form in the SAFF Championship as well, as India’s hopes of securing the eighth title largely rests on his shoulders.
Meanwhile, seven-time SAFF champions, India, will be playing their first tournament since the Intercontinental Cup in 2019. The Blue Tigers have won thrice in the last five editions, however in the previous edition of the SAFF Championship, Maldives beat India 2-1 to deny them.
Stimac’s men are undefeated in the last three matches, with wins against their SAFF opponents Bangladesh and Nepal, including international friendlies and FIFA 2022, AFC 2023 qualifiers. They will hope to play with more efficiency and be more clinical against Bangladesh, who have started their 2021 SAFF campaign with a good win over Sri Lanka.
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