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India need to be ready for life without Sunil Chhetri – Coach Stephen Constantine
Constantine believes that the Indian national team needs to start preparing for a future without Sunil Chhetri.
In the last few years, Sunil Chhetri has become almost synonymous with the Indian football team. The 34-year-old has been a regular performer for the side on the global stage and with 65 goals from 103 matches, the record speaks for itself.
However, he will not be a part of the squad that travels to Amman ahead of India’s friendly encounter against Jordan on November 17 and coach Stephen Constantine believes that the Indian national team needs to start preparing for a future without Sunil Chhetri.
“I don’t think you can replace a player of his calibre. But we need someone to step into his shoes as there will come a time when he will not be around. As a result, we would like to identify the options right now so that he can share his experience with the younger lot,” Constantine said.
“Sunil (Chhetri) missing the game is a huge blow for the team. He is 36 years old and father time catches up with all of us. So we need to be ready for the time when he decides to call it quits,” he added.
Also Read: Sunil Chhetri out of Jordan friendly due to ankle injury
While the 23-member contingent does have five other names listed as strikers, the quality takes a serious hit with Chhetri not travelling to Amman. The other options - Jeje Lalpekhlua, Sumeet Passi, Farukh Choudhary, Balwant Singh and Manvir Singh – have not enjoyed a great run of form in the ongoing Indian Super League and with the exception of Manvir and Passi, they have not even scored on the international stage in the last six months. However, when asked about the lack of talent pool, Constantine pointed a deeper problem and said that young players are not looking to play as strikers.
“We have four of five boys who are considering strikers at the moment and they are not getting as much match time as I want. But, I have no choice but to go with them in case of Chhetri’s absence,”
“When it comes to the Indian clubs, most of them look to sign foreign strikers and as a result, the young Indian talents tend to avoid the position. As a result, we have a dearth of talent when it comes to the strikers,” he explained.
“If it was up to me, I will ban foreign strikers in the league. But, sadly, that is not possible,” he joked.
Among the striking options, one of the biggest worries will have to Chennaiyin FC forward Jeje Lalpekhlua. The 27-year-old has not scored a single time in the ISL this year and with just 301 minutes under his belt, he has struggled to get a lot of game time. The problem seems to be a pattern with other strikers too as Passi (261 minutes), Farukh (169 minutes) and Manvir (55 minutes) have struggled to find a regular spot in their teams’ starting XIs. The exception has been Balwant who has played 497 minutes.
“It is a worry for me when my players do not get match time. The problem is that we do not have many choices in the position and we are desperately trying to get new talent to fill the position,” he said.
