Indian football legend Sunil Chhetri walked into the sunset after gracing the field for 19 years in his illustrious career for the national team. Chhetri has decided to call it time to his India career with his final game coming against Kuwait in the FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata.
After the game ended in a goalless draw, Chhetri took a lap of honour on the ground, thanking the fans for their support of him throughout his journey in the Blues. An emotional Chhetri trudged towards the sidelines as he was looking to head back to the dressing room for one final time in the Indian colours. He could not hold back his tears as he broke down in his final walk outside the playing area.
The Indian team members assembled in parallel to give him a guard of honour at the sidelines. Chhetri stood on the line for a moment and broke down. He covered his face with his hand but the tears kept on rolling and all of the Salt Lake went emotional with the legend.
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Chhetri's final outing for India ended in a goalless draw for the hosts. The Blue Tigers had a great chance of reaching the third round of FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, a round where they have never reached, but bottled it up with a 0-0 stalemate.
Both the teams had chances but could not convert. The Blue Tigers enjoyed 48% possession and sent attempted 15 shots, out of which three were on target. The Kuwaiti side shared 52% of the possession and attempted 13 strokes, four of which were on target but none inside the nets.
The Indian team still has bleak chances of making it to the third round, but they will have to beat the much stronger Qatar side, ranked 94 in the world. The Indian team is ranked 147th in the FIFA rankings.