Sunil Chhetri remains focused on the work at hand ahead of his farewell match against Kuwait on Thursday, June 6. The legendary Indian footballer has appealed to everyone not to make it about him or his last game as India take on Kuwait in the crucial FIFA World Cup Qualifier at Kolkata's Salt Lake Stadium.
The Blue Tigers have registered just one win in their first four round two fixtures and need to beat Kuwait to boost their chances to qualify for the third round for the first time. India face Qatar, the 34th-ranked side, in their last game on June 11 and will be looking to secure qualification to give Chhetri a memorable farewell.
Chhetri, 39, attended the pre-match press conference with head coach Igor Stimac on Wednesday and told reporters that he is only thinking about the game rather than his last game.
"I'm trying really hard not to think about this game like it's my last," Sunil Chhetri said. "It's not about me and my last game, it's just about us and Kuwait. We really need to win this game, and once we do, it gives us a great chance to go to the third round, which we have never done before."
Manager Igor Stimac termed the Kuwait game as the biggest game of his career and said it was his chance to make every Indian happy.
"This is the biggest game of my career," Igor Stimac said. "We have the chance to make 1.5 billion people happy."
India will secure seven points with a win against Kuwait and the latter will be knocked out of the qualification race. Afghanistan also remain in contention but face mighty Qatar in their next match and Kuwait in their sixth game of round two. Notably, India's only win came against Kuwait in November last year where Manvir Singh lodged the only goal of the game in the away fixture. India have won once and drawn two matches against Kuwait so far.
