His backstory is one of an obstinacy, even in the face of doubt, to check if what his schoolteacher said could be made to happen. Chhetri was willful enough to switch schools by himself against his family's knowledge. Upheaval at home, angry father, distraught mother. Chhetri then moved out of home at 15 because he "wanted to go full-fledged" and live in the school hostel, full of footballing nuts from around the country. His father returned from a non-family posting, furious that his wild child had admitted himself into a hostel, mere 15-20 minutes away from home.
One day, KB came to watch his son train -- "I saw him from afar in the stands" -- and began to return to the stands frequently, ferrying "nuts and chawanprash[a health food]" to supplement hostel cooking. The ice thawed and the two spoke. "And I told him, 'I know I've hurt you, but this is something that I really want to do and I'll give my best.'"
The son's bizarre career path appeared to be working. The next target was Delhi's prestigious St Stephen's College -- which required 70% marks and a place on the India junior team. He had topped his school in Class XI in the commerce stream and impressed at the Durand Cup, playing for City FC. But before he could reach the St Stephen's admissions office, Mohun Bagan turned up, contract and his future in hand. Whatever Mr Ghale had seen, the oldest club in India was seeing, only in higher definition.
The game consumes him, football and competing with mind and body on high alert. He has never been red-carded, but his Energiser bunny demeanour does leave little room for a channelling of the furies. "I want to be calm and composed," he says. "I like me when I am calm and composed. I don't like when I get angry -- because I'm so full of emotion that if I let it all out on being angry, then it all goes out."
BFC media manager Kunaal Majgaonkar has popped in and out of our conversation, the two men are colleagues and buddies. Soon stories emerge from nearly five years ago over two disputed games of carrom and Monopoly, originally begun to kill time. On both occasions (sum and substance), the game was suspended after Majgoankar said he was stepping away due to arguments over rules with Chhetri. Over the carrom, Chhetri smashes his fist on the board, fractures his hand ("What am I going to tell the coach? We fabricated a story that I fell in the bathroom."), hurls a coin which flies through the air and cracks a giant TV in the BFC game room. The melee over Monopoly at Calcutta airport led to collars being grabbed (Chhetri did the grabbing), with the other two Monopolists, open-mouthed, mystified. The seriousness of yesterday has turned into absurdity today and both men are laughing. (Oh, and he quickly bought a new TV to replace the screen shattered by a flying carrom coin).
On both occasions, Chhetri understood arguments over rules, it was the walk-away that had set him off. "Tell me how to fix the issue, but the game continues. Tell me how to fix the problem, but game khelo, na?"
Game khelo, na?
Houghton remembers conversations with the sparky, talkative forward he met more than a decade ago and says, "It's just a pity he couldn't get some period overseas where he played for some time and made himself into an international player really. His real ambition I'm sure was that he wanted to play in Europe. He really wanted to be one of the few Indians who could do good overseas. That was the one thing he impressed on me, that did I think he could play in Europe. I think he could have done, you know."
The story with foreign clubs makes for a gloomy recounting, but was treated like the launch pad that turned Chhetri into a titan for India. In 2009, a three-year offer from Queens Park Rangers couldn't go through because the British work permit for professional footballers mandates that their country must feature in the FIFA top 70. Ten months with the Kansas City Wizards / Sporting Kansas City (April 2010-Feb 2011) without game time because the coach invested in another player, had made him "negative" (2010) and had him return home. At Sporting Club de Portugal's B team (2012-13), he understood being told he wasn't ready for the first XI and sent to the reserves. There he trained alongside 19-year-olds who went far -- Joao Mario, who now plays with Inter and won the European championships with Portugal in 2016, Erik Dier of Tottehnam and Bruma of Leipzig being some of them. He returned home after nine months. "It wasn't that I was unhappy, that I wasn't getting chances. It was because I was already 26-27 and I couldn't not play. If I was 17 in Sporting, I would have stayed there. I had a four-year deal, I would have stayed. At 26-27 you need matches."
In sagely, measured tones, Houghton says, "You need a break, you need to go somewhere where the coach takes a liking to you and gives you a chance and gives you that confidence, and Sunil had that ability, just like Bhaichung did, to play abroad. But he didn't get those breaks." In February 2013, Chhetri was put on loan to Churchill from Sporting CP. In July, he signed with newly formed I-League club Bengaluru FC. When the career-defining break came, Sunil Chhetri made sure he caught it. Suddenly, the whole wall moved.
The first time I met Chhetri, he had just scored two goals at the Kanteerava in Bangalore to make BFC the first Indian club to enter the AFC Cup final, the cup final of continental clubs. The first goal had come off a set-piece header, the second was a thing of beauty. Given space on the left, Chhetri went around a defender and further away from the goal. Three opponents in front of him, two behind them blocking the line and the keeper with his zone covered. From around 70ft away, Chhetri finds time and space to send up a right-footer. The ball rises well over the defending block, its curling dip evades the goalkeeper's outstretched arm near the left corner, and sinks emphatically into the back of the netting. AFC Cup final, here we come.
The goal plays itself out in my mind's eye and in front of me is the compact young man who scored it. "How cool are you?" I ask.
Suit sharp, disposition on high beam, Chhetri shakes hands and with modestly-controlled glee says, "Quite decent."
I think its perfect time after Asian cup for Sunil to hang the boots for national team. its perfect timing for him and for the team. he has pulled the burden far too long. wIth no major tournament in immediate future. it will give us time to have future team without him in time for next Asian cup.
Best Footballer in Asia 2018: Sunil Chhetri finishes above Andres Iniesta, Paulinho; Son Heung Min ranked top
Indian forward Sunil Chhetri has been ranked above World Cup winner Andres Iniesta, former Barcelona midfielder Paulinho in the Best Footballer in Asia 2018 rankings, whereas Son Heung Min finished top
Here are the the final top 30 rankings:
01 Son Heung Min (South Korea / Tottenham Hotspur )
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http://www.espn.in/soccer/club/india/4385/blog/post/3742936/sunil-chhetri-indias-mr-football
His backstory is one of an obstinacy, even in the face of doubt, to check if what his schoolteacher said could be made to happen. Chhetri was willful enough to switch schools by himself against his family's knowledge. Upheaval at home, angry father, distraught mother. Chhetri then moved out of home at 15 because he "wanted to go full-fledged" and live in the school hostel, full of footballing nuts from around the country. His father returned from a non-family posting, furious that his wild child had admitted himself into a hostel, mere 15-20 minutes away from home.
One day, KB came to watch his son train -- "I saw him from afar in the stands" -- and began to return to the stands frequently, ferrying "nuts and chawanprash[a health food]" to supplement hostel cooking. The ice thawed and the two spoke. "And I told him, 'I know I've hurt you, but this is something that I really want to do and I'll give my best.'"
The son's bizarre career path appeared to be working. The next target was Delhi's prestigious St Stephen's College -- which required 70% marks and a place on the India junior team. He had topped his school in Class XI in the commerce stream and impressed at the Durand Cup, playing for City FC. But before he could reach the St Stephen's admissions office, Mohun Bagan turned up, contract and his future in hand. Whatever Mr Ghale had seen, the oldest club in India was seeing, only in higher definition.
The game consumes him, football and competing with mind and body on high alert. He has never been red-carded, but his Energiser bunny demeanour does leave little room for a channelling of the furies. "I want to be calm and composed," he says. "I like me when I am calm and composed. I don't like when I get angry -- because I'm so full of emotion that if I let it all out on being angry, then it all goes out."
BFC media manager Kunaal Majgaonkar has popped in and out of our conversation, the two men are colleagues and buddies. Soon stories emerge from nearly five years ago over two disputed games of carrom and Monopoly, originally begun to kill time. On both occasions (sum and substance), the game was suspended after Majgoankar said he was stepping away due to arguments over rules with Chhetri. Over the carrom, Chhetri smashes his fist on the board, fractures his hand ("What am I going to tell the coach? We fabricated a story that I fell in the bathroom."), hurls a coin which flies through the air and cracks a giant TV in the BFC game room. The melee over Monopoly at Calcutta airport led to collars being grabbed (Chhetri did the grabbing), with the other two Monopolists, open-mouthed, mystified. The seriousness of yesterday has turned into absurdity today and both men are laughing. (Oh, and he quickly bought a new TV to replace the screen shattered by a flying carrom coin).
On both occasions, Chhetri understood arguments over rules, it was the walk-away that had set him off. "Tell me how to fix the issue, but the game continues. Tell me how to fix the problem, but game khelo, na?"
Game khelo, na?
Houghton remembers conversations with the sparky, talkative forward he met more than a decade ago and says, "It's just a pity he couldn't get some period overseas where he played for some time and made himself into an international player really. His real ambition I'm sure was that he wanted to play in Europe. He really wanted to be one of the few Indians who could do good overseas. That was the one thing he impressed on me, that did I think he could play in Europe. I think he could have done, you know."
The story with foreign clubs makes for a gloomy recounting, but was treated like the launch pad that turned Chhetri into a titan for India. In 2009, a three-year offer from Queens Park Rangers couldn't go through because the British work permit for professional footballers mandates that their country must feature in the FIFA top 70. Ten months with the Kansas City Wizards / Sporting Kansas City (April 2010-Feb 2011) without game time because the coach invested in another player, had made him "negative" (2010) and had him return home. At Sporting Club de Portugal's B team (2012-13), he understood being told he wasn't ready for the first XI and sent to the reserves. There he trained alongside 19-year-olds who went far -- Joao Mario, who now plays with Inter and won the European championships with Portugal in 2016, Erik Dier of Tottehnam and Bruma of Leipzig being some of them. He returned home after nine months. "It wasn't that I was unhappy, that I wasn't getting chances. It was because I was already 26-27 and I couldn't not play. If I was 17 in Sporting, I would have stayed there. I had a four-year deal, I would have stayed. At 26-27 you need matches."
In sagely, measured tones, Houghton says, "You need a break, you need to go somewhere where the coach takes a liking to you and gives you a chance and gives you that confidence, and Sunil had that ability, just like Bhaichung did, to play abroad. But he didn't get those breaks." In February 2013, Chhetri was put on loan to Churchill from Sporting CP. In July, he signed with newly formed I-League club Bengaluru FC. When the career-defining break came, Sunil Chhetri made sure he caught it. Suddenly, the whole wall moved.
The first time I met Chhetri, he had just scored two goals at the Kanteerava in Bangalore to make BFC the first Indian club to enter the AFC Cup final, the cup final of continental clubs. The first goal had come off a set-piece header, the second was a thing of beauty. Given space on the left, Chhetri went around a defender and further away from the goal. Three opponents in front of him, two behind them blocking the line and the keeper with his zone covered. From around 70ft away, Chhetri finds time and space to send up a right-footer. The ball rises well over the defending block, its curling dip evades the goalkeeper's outstretched arm near the left corner, and sinks emphatically into the back of the netting. AFC Cup final, here we come.
The goal plays itself out in my mind's eye and in front of me is the compact young man who scored it. "How cool are you?" I ask.
Suit sharp, disposition on high beam, Chhetri shakes hands and with modestly-controlled glee says, "Quite decent."
http://www.espn.in/soccer/club/india/4385/blog/post/3742936/sunil-chhetri-indias-mr-football
Best Footballer in Asia 2018: Sunil Chhetri finishes above Andres Iniesta, Paulinho; Son Heung Min ranked top
Indian forward Sunil Chhetri has been ranked above World Cup winner Andres Iniesta, former Barcelona midfielder Paulinho in the Best Footballer in Asia 2018 rankings, whereas Son Heung Min finished top
Here are the the final top 30 rankings:
01 Son Heung Min (South Korea / Tottenham Hotspur )
02 Makato Hasebe (Japan / Eintracht Frankfurt )
03 Alireza Beirenvand (Iran /Persepolis FC)
04 Suzuki Yuma (Japan / Kashima Antler)
05 Baghdad Bounedjah (Algeria/ Al Sadd SC)
06 Wu Lei (China / Shanghai SIPG)
07 Alireza Jahanbaksh (Iran/AZ Alkmaar-Brighton & Hove Albion)
08 Neil Etheridge (Philippines / Cardiff City)
09 Takashi Inui (Japan / Eibar- Real Betis)
10 Abdelkarim Hassan (Qatar/ Al Sadd FC)
11 Yuya Osako (Japan / FC Koln- Werder Bremen)
12 Aaron Mooy (Australia/ Huddersfield)
13 Matthew Ryan (Australia/Brighton & Hove Albion)
14 Salman Al-Faraj (Saudi Arabia /Al- Hilal)
15 Nguyen Quang Hai (Vietnam/ Ha Noi FC)
16 Akram Afif (Qatar/Al Sadd SC)
17 Kwon Sun-Tae (South Korea / Kashima Antler)
18 Hwang Ui-Jo (South Korea / Gamba Osaka)
19 Marcus Berg (Sweden / Al-Ain FC)
20 Gen Shoji (Japan / Kashima Antler)
21 Sunil Chhetri (India / Bengaluru FC)
21 Zhao Xianyou (Korea / Daegu)
23 Valery Kichin (Kyrgyzstan / Yenisei)
24 Paulinho (Brazil / Barcelona-Guangzhou Evergrande)
24 Caio (Brazil / Al Ain)
24 Omar Al Somah (Syria/ Al-Ahli)
24 Chanathip Songkrasin (Thailand / Consadole Sapporo)
28 Kengo Nakamura (Japan / Kawasaki Frontale)
28 Shinji Kagawa (Japan / Borussia Dortmund)
28 Odil Ahmedov (Uzbekistan / Shanghai SIPG)
28 Sardar Azmoun (Iran/Rubin Kazan)
32 Serginho (Brazil / America Mineiro- Kashima Antlers)
33 Andres Iniesta (Spain/Vissel Kobe)
https://www.timesnownews.com/sports/football/article/best-footballer-in-asia-2018-sunil-chhetri-finishes-above-andres-iniesta-paulinho-son-heung-min-ranked-top/342284