Sunil Chhetri led India to their ninth SAFF Championship title after helping clinch the 2023 Intercontinental Cup, with the team playing nine games in a span of around 24 days.
India have been phenomenal at home, being unbeaten in 11 games in 2023, while winning seven of them and scoring 16 goals and conceding just twice.
Chhetri, who turns 39 come August, played a crucial role in India’s good showing.
When asked how he still manages to do it, the Indian football legend narrated his daily schedule.
“Get up at six o’clock. Cold shower, read some book, do some stretching. 7:30 have some coffee, go to training. Come back at 11, take an ice bath, and then do foam rolling. Have lunch at 12-1. Take a nap, get up at 3:30, go to the gym or double time training for the club or the country. Come by, have some snacks, have dinner before 7:30 then 10:30, go to sleep,” Sunil Chhetri said during an interaction with the media on Sunday.
“That’s what I do every day. I do not eat what I want but I only what I need. And it’s very seldom that I eat what I want and I take care of my body and that’s the reason why I don’t feel tired. That’s the reason why I probably am running as much,” he added.
Chhetri sprinted down the channels in search of long balls and passes in behind the defence, relentlessly. He managed to retain the Golden Ball award at SAFF Championship, as he took his international tally of goals to 92. He is behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in the list of active footballers and is fourth overall.
When asked about what keeps him going and if 100 international goals for India are a target he is motivated by?
He said: “No, it doesn’t. And I’m being very honest, but I do feel fortunate and really privileged. Playing 100 plus games for the country is an unbelievable feat.”
“I do not know how I was able to do it. The support that I’ve got from my team. I’m very fortunate, everyone has helped me and this is not just the boys but the coaches that I have played under, the physios, and the doctors, they have helped me so much that I can’t even tell. All of this has come together for me to play 100 games and as I said before, there’s only one me and it’s such an outstanding feeling. I’m living a dream. I do not take it for granted and the one thing that I do is in return I give whatever I have. I’m not trying to chase 100 (goals). I just want to play as many games as possible for my country. And when I do play a game for the country I always want to score goals. ”
Up next for the Indian men’s football team are the King’s Cup in Thailand and the Merdeka Cup in Malaysia come September and October respectively.
When asked about India’s chances at AFC Asia Cup and the team’s need for matches as well as a longer camp, Chhetri hopes to play against a top team in Asia like – Iran or Japan or Saudi Arabia- to get a better understanding of Australia, adding that performances against Lebanon and Kuwait can be a similar level to Syria with facing Iran will be like playing Uzbekistan.
“When you get this kind of game, number one, you want to do well but number two also you get a reality check. When in SAFF Championship, we met Kuwait and Lebanon you could see those things are different. They come with different problems. They give you different things to think about. So that’s why it’s important, especially on our route to the Asia Cup to face Uzbekistan, Syria and Australia. It is important, the better teams and the more difficulties we face, the better our preparation is going to be,” Chhetri said.
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