 "Legendary Indian forward Sunil Chhetri had bid international football goodbye in June last year, only to make a U-turn less than a year later. Reuters")
Less than a year after he bid the Indian football team an emotional goodbye , legendary forward Sunil Chhetri found himself answering an SOS call from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and reversed his international retirement to represent the Blue Tigers in their AFC Asian Cup qualifying game against Bangladesh in Shillong in March.
It wasn’t a one-off appearance against Bangladesh for Chhetri though, as the 40-year-old, who continues to play for Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League, has also been named in India’s 28-member squad for an upcoming friendly against Thailand by coach Manolo Marquez.
Former India attacking midfielder Shanmugam Venkatesh, for one, isn’t a fan of Chhetri having to come out of international retirement after a legendary career spanning 19 years, describing it as “bad news for Indian football”.
‘It’s demotivating for all the young players’
Venkatesh, who currently serves as assistant manager at iconic Kolkata club East Bengal, further revealed that he has asked a senior player to step aside in order to allow Chhetri to make his debut back in 2005, when he was captaining the Blue Tigers.
“Two decades ago, I told a senior player to hang up his boots so a young Sunil Chhetri could rise. But now Chhetri breaking his retirement to come back is bad news for Indian football. It’s demotivating for all the young players. I’m not blaming Chhetri. He will play only one or two matches. But if you bring a youngster and back him now, he will give 10 years,” Venkatesh told The Times of India.
Venkatesh added that the superstar’s return essentially highlights the fact that Indian football does not have enough talent coming through to fill the void and cannot function without Chhetri, one of the country’s greatest footballers of all time and certainly the standout player since the turn of the millennium alongside Baichung Bhutia.
“Indirectly, we are sending a message to everyone that we don’t have enough players. We are seeing that a lot of grassroots programme have come and there are a lot of tournaments. Still, we are depending on the 40-year-old striker?” added Venkatesh, who has also served as assistant coach to the Indian football team in the past.
India face Thailand in an international friendly on 4 June, which will be followed by their second AFC Asian Cup Qualifier against Hong Kong on their turf on 10 June.