By scrolling a little about the chronology of Sunil Chhetri on X, a beautiful tweet appears – the one who perfectly sums up the career of the legendary striker with the Indian football team. The last sentence of this tweet can be read as follows: “Maa Tujhe Salaam(Salves to you, mother).
Sports careers are built on skills, technique, development and glory, but when they represent the national team, duty, passion and motivation have priority. Personal milestones disappear in the background – there is only one objective: winning for the nation. Money has little meaning; The real glory is measured only in the trophies.
Playing for the Indian football team, with little financial incentive and a limited success on the field, is an even larger challenge. But it never counted in Chhetri, because for him, “nothing is close to the country.”
प्यार है बस तेरा, प्यार ही
माँ तुझे सलाम। 🤍 pic.twitter.com/yog9j5pmaa– Sunil Chhetri (@ chetrisunil11) July 5, 2023
So he’s back! At 40, reversing his international retirement, which he announced last year after ending his illustrious India career with a drawing draw against Kuwait at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata.
But let me add it here. He is not back because he missed the blue jersey beyond what he could resist. Chhetri, the owner of 94 international goals in 151 games, is back because the Indian football team needs more than ever.
India needs Chhetri’s goals more than ever
After having made history by leading India to two consecutive appearances of the AFC Asian Cup in 2019 and 2023, Chhetri and Blue Tigers are now held at the dawn of history – qualifying for a third consecutive time for the first time.
India is fired in group C alongside Bangladesh, Hong Kong and Singapore in the qualifications final and only one team, the group’s winner will go to the Asian Cup proper.
Despite the Asian Cup which extends to 24 teams since the 2019 edition, the Blue Tigers are on thin ice, their performance decreasing with each passing game – a reality reflected in its 126th FIFA abyssal ranking.
Igor Stimac went from Manolo Marquez last season after India missed the bus for the 2026 World Cup, but the results were far from being positive: one defeat, three draws and only two goals scored.
You cannot hold it against Marquez, who had very little time with the national team to explore their philosophy and has a terribly limited talent basin with which to work. Consequently, the necessity of the Chhetri talismanic.
Explaining Chhetri’s return to the press release announcing the team, Marquez said: “The qualification for the Asian Cup is very crucial for us. Given the importance of the tournament and the coming matches, I discussed with Sunil Chhetri to make a return to strengthen the national team. He accepted, and we therefore included it in the team. ”
The return of “SC11” can look like a return to normality for Indian football fans, but in reality, it exposes the hard truth about our game – which, with all the respect due to our former captain, we are again forced to count on a 40 -year -old man to transport us on the other side of the line.
This thought attenuates any enthusiasm that Chhetri’s return could have triggered.
During his fifth decade on earth, Chhetri is the second largest scorer of the current season in the Indian Super League (ISL), and is the highest of the Indians with 12 goals. The next best is seven goals from Brison Fernandes, who is 17 years younger than Chhetri and not even an attacker.
Here is the main explanation of his return. India has no attackers who can score goals. Forget the internationals. India has no goals in the local league either.
The recent press release said Farukh Choudhary, Irfan Yadwad, Lallianzuala Chngte and Manvir Singh as attackers, but with the exception of Yadwad sometimes for Chennaiyin FC, none of them plays as attackers in their respective clubs.
The situation is not very different in the second division I-League which also depends on foreign attackers and Indian attackers only constitute the figures.
If the best football clubs are not one of the Indian players as a target, it is difficult to imagine how the benefits for the national team will emerge.
Chhetri’s return has a message for Indian clubs
It can be said that the main objective of clubs is to win trophies, especially in the Indian ecosystem where the revenue generation is finished and restricted. And you won’t be wrong to make this argument.
In an ideal scenario, even with clubs preferring foreign attackers, a large number of clubs, divisions, a well -structured age group system and a robust basic program would have produced enough attackers. But the reality of Indian football is that it is largely imperfect – it is broken, maintained by ISL, which has survived despite massive financial losses.
But things have to change because Chhetri will soon be 41, then 42 and so on. Although medical science has made significant progress, it cannot remain the answer to the “who after Chhetri”? Question forever.
So what is the quick solution? Follow Chhetri.
Just as the 40 -year -old legend has again placed the country in front of him, clubs can also have a big impact by regularly aligning at least one Indian attacker, as much as possible.
It will not be easy. Some may hesitate if others do not take the lead, but together, we can bring the change that the defective Indian football ecosystem has had trouble achieving.
