A short video on X, formerly Twitter, posted by All India Football Federation shows Sunil Chhetri playing keepy-uppy. Following Chhetri using his feet and thighs to keep the ball off the ground, the camera catches the glaring white of floodlights blending with the mellow orange of the setting sun in Doha. The post on the India national teams’ official handle is captioned: “What pure joy looks like.”
Chhetri is less than seven months from his fifth decade and the oldest outfield player in the 2024 Asian Cup, the second oldest in the competition after Thailand goalkeeper Siwarak Tedsungnoen who will turn 40 in April. No Indian has ever played three Asian Cup finals and no player in this edition has as many goals, 93. At 145, he is also the tournament’s second-most capped player, his international career having begun in 2005. He is also a new dad. “You want to be with the kid and mother all the time,” he said, finishing a granola bar.
But he also “wants to do more” and is one of the fittest in the squad. So, the Asian Cup will not be his final international competition. “We have got very important games against Afghanistan, Kuwait and Qatar and I will be available,” he told HT.
India play Afghanistan in March and Kuwait and Qatar in June. That’s as long Chettri is willing to think of now. “My head is not equipped to see very far.” Four years ago, after the heartbreak against Bahrain – “we needed a draw, they are a good side but not Japan,” Chhetri said with a grimace in the Zoom call – he didn’t see himself at another Asian Cup.
“If we weren’t in the (2026 World Cup) qualifiers, probably this would have been my last. (But) we are in with a chance to make the third round for the first time in my career. I am not trying to put pressure on myself or the team when I say this but something really drastic has to go wrong from our side for us to not be in the third round. And right now, the team needs me,” he said.
India beat Kuwait away and lost to Qatar at home in the road to the 2026 finals. They have never made that far in the qualifiers and for Chhetri, that is a bigger deal than playing in successive Asian Cup finals, also a first. “For us to make the third round, it is important to give a good account in the Asian Cup. We are playing three top teams. Okay, Syria are good but Uzbekistan and Australia are top teams,” Chhetri said. “It will be a good way of testing ourselves.”
India start against former champions Australia on Saturday. The target has been set. “We want to have the biggest underdogs’ result in the first game. No one, not even your friends, is giving you a chance. Imagine, if you get a result against Australia, that is something you are going to die with,” said Chhetri.
India began in 2019 with a 4-1 win against Thailand – their biggest margin of win in the finals – but finished last in the group after narrow defeats to UAE and Bahrain. “If I have to get three points this time too, I would want three draws,” said Chhetri.
Chhetri is the only connection between the teams who also met in this competition in 2011. Most of India’s 2011 roster were on the verge of retirement and being back in the finals after 27 years, thin on tournament experience of this level. This squad has nine who played in 2019. But for Chhetri, access to information is the biggest difference between the two squads.
“Anyone in this squad will name the 11 who played Bahrain (Australia won the friendly 2-0 in Abu Dhabi on Sunday). Our analyst has already made the clips and sent to us. They will tell you the first 11 Australia used against Palestine, about the threat from corner-kicks. That doesn’t make the game easier but it does make you more prepared. Bob (Houghton, India coach in 2011) tried but such details were not available to us then.”
But preparation for 2011 was nearly a year long with training camps in Portugal, UAE and Thailand. This time head coach Igor Stimac got less than two weeks. A four-week camp would have been ideal, said Chhetri. “And a friendly against, just throwing a name, Iran and maybe Iraq. If you had played Iran, you would know the tempo expected from Australia. Right now, all the boys are used to the tempo of the ISL. Playing Australia will be a different level altogether.”
An official photo-shoot called meaning it was time to wind up. Asked about the changes Stimac brought since joining in 2019, Chhetri first referred to the large pool of players tried out in the first two years. “Our levels fluctuated and I didn’t like it. I told him and he said, ‘trust my process.’” Even as players understood the coach, no one can say he didn’t get opportunities, said Chhetri. “So, the dressing room was built on trust.”
Once Stimac identified the core, he struck to it which is why Chhetri said he did not see too many changes till June. Players have also matured in the time Stimac has been coach, he said, mentioning Lallianzuala Chhangte, Suresh Wangjam, Anwar Ali and Jeakson Singh (the last two are out of the Asian Cup with injury).
India also try more passes and play fewer long balls, at least against some teams. “We lost a lot of battles by lumping the ball,” Chhetri said with a smile. It has helped that some India players have been given more responsibility to look after the ball at their clubs, he said.
