{"id":31171,"date":"2018-05-16T11:26:30","date_gmt":"2018-05-16T11:26:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/punjabnews24.com\/?p=31171"},"modified":"2018-05-16T11:26:30","modified_gmt":"2018-05-16T11:26:30","slug":"need-a-fit-sunil-chhetri-at-the-asian-cup-says-bhaichung-bhutia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/need-a-fit-sunil-chhetri-at-the-asian-cup-says-bhaichung-bhutia\/","title":{"rendered":"Need a fit Sunil Chhetri at the Asian Cup, says Bhaichung Bhutia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former captain Bhaichung Bhutia has said it will be crucial for talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri to remain fit for India to do well at the Asian Cup next year.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bhutia was drawing on his experience from the 2011 edition, where he had injured his leg. Consequently, he missed the team\u2019s first two matches against Australia and Bahrain while came on as a second-half substitute in the final group stage match against South Korea. Without Bhutia, India cut a sorry figure and lost all their matches.<\/p>\n

Chhetri, like Bhutia, is expected to lead the team at next year\u2019s edition. India are paired along side hosts UAE, Bahrain and Thailand, and Bhutia felt India will need the 33-year-old at his \u2018best form and fitness\u2019. \u201cIt\u2019s very important for us to keep Sunil fit,\u201d Bhutia said. \u201cI\u2019ve gone through that experience (of getting injured). Once you cross 30, it\u2019s nature that with the physical game players tend to get injured when you play at that high intensity. But you need Sunil in the best form and fitness at the Asian Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

India failed to qualify for the 2015 Asian Cup but qualified for next an expanded edition, which will be played next January, by topping their group in the third qualification round. Chhetri, the country\u2019s highest-ever scorer with 56 goals, was instrumental in the team\u2019s success, having scored four times in the six matches \u2013 including winners against Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan.<\/p>\n

Without him in the squad, though, India have struggled. During the tri-nations tournament in August last year, India just about managed to beat Mauritius and were held to a draw by St Kitts & Nevis \u2013 both lower-ranked teams. Chhetri had missed the tournament as he was recovering from an injury.<\/p>\n

Bhutia pointed out that Chhetri\u2019s experience, too, will be crucial as he is the only player in the squad who has played at the Asian Cup. \u201cHe will have to share his experience of playing at such a high level,\u201d Bhutia said. \u201cThe team will be sharing team hotels with some of the big names of Asian football, so they\u2019ll need someone to help them relax, feel confident and motivated. The other players will also have to step up, and Sunil will have to guide them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preparation for the Asian Cup begins in June, when the Indians play host to Kenya, Chinese Taipei and New Zealand in a four-way competition. Beyond that though, Bhutia asserted the team will need to get sufficient game-time abroad. \u201cNow we need to focus on playing outside India because that\u2019s a very different experience,\u201d he said. \u201cThe tournament will happen in UAE, so they can play (friendly) matches in Dubai against the (local) clubs. They can start training there so that at least psychologically, you\u2019re aware and you feel that you know the place, the ground and you know the climate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former captain Bhaichung Bhutia has said it will be crucial for talismanic striker Sunil Chhetri to remain fit for India to do well at the Asian Cup next year. Bhutia was drawing on his experience from the 2011 edition, where he had injured his leg. Consequently, he missed the team\u2019s first two matches against Australia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31173,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31171\/revisions\/31173"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}