The Indian senior men’s team arrived in Shillong on Friday, ahead of its first match of the AFC Asian Cup 2027 Qualifiers against Bangladesh.
The Blue Tigers will face Maldives in a friendly on March 19, preparing for the clash against Bangladesh six days later. And the limelight unsurprisingly remains on former captain Sunil Chhetri, who returned from international retirement to help the National side in the March international window.
“Sunil is the Indian top-scorer in the ISL (Indian Super League), with practically double goals than the next player, who is Brison (Fernandes). After that are Subhasish(Bose), Irfan (Yadwad), Manvir (Singh) . . ,” Manolo Marquez, India’s head coach, said.
“All of them are here with us in the national team. We need players who score goals. In my four matches so far, we have only scored two goals – one of them from a set-piece. At this moment, the most important thing is to get results. Nothing else matters.”
With 12 goals, this has been Chhetri’s highest-scoring season in the ISL. has scored more goals in 2024-25 than the previous two ISL seasons combined.
“Because it was a special situation, I spoke with the AIFF and Bengaluru FC before I called him. I spoke with Sunil and explained to him what I wanted from him. It doesn’t matter if he’s 40. The national team needs players who are in good form,” said Márquez.
The Indian squad held a 45-minute gym session on Saturday morning and will have their first on-pitch training at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the match venue, in the evening.
“It’s always a good feeling to be back in the national camp. As a nation, we’ll be playing in Shillong for the first time, and that’s always an exciting prospect, especially since Meghalaya is a state that has a vibrant culture of football. We are eagerly looking forward to playing here,” Sandesh Jhingan said.
“Our main aim is to get the result in the Bangladesh match, as that would give us a good start in the Asian Cup Qualifiers, and I think the 10-day training ahead of that, along with the friendly against Maldives will greatly help us prepare for it. Our target is two clean sheet victories,” he added.
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com