AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers: India captain Sunil Chhetri says they can't afford to take Myanmar lightly

Margao: Captain Sunil Chhetri said that India’s AFC Asian Cup qualifiers rivals Myanmar were no pushovers and his side will not take the visitors lightly in their encounter on Tuesday. [caption id=“attachment_3372232” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of India national team captain Sunil Chhetri. AFP[/caption] Despite being the sole team from Group A to have already qualified for the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, the players are not in a mood to let the momentum slip as India presently stay unbeaten in 13 international matches. Chhetri, who scored the winner the last time the two teams met in Yangon earlier this year, described Myanmar as a “compact side”. “The entire country will get to see their technicalities when we meet them. There is no shame in admitting that they dominated us when we played in Yangon. But we were resilient. Also do not forget that they came back from 0-2 down to make it 2-2 against Kyrgyz Republic. That speaks of their strength,” Chhetri said. “It may sound cliche but we need to prove a point. We can not take the foot off the pedal and need to continue our winning streak,” he said after the players landed in Goa on Sunday for the match on 14 November. The team reached here after a six-day long preparatory camp in Mumbai. Central defender Sandesh Jhingan termed Myanmar as a team which “runs a lot”. “They are a very hard working side who run a lot. In addition, their ball control is quite exemplary. They have a number of very good players in the middle and their No. 10 is a special one. It’s not going to be an easy match for us,” he said. “But we want to win. There is not any place for any complacency just because we have already qualified. We need to continue the winning streak and will keep doing what we have been doing to get the result we want.” Goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu said, “Myanmar are a strong unit with very talented and technically sound players who can create havoc with the ball. There will always be a tendency for all to underestimate them but we won’t.”