Sunil Chhetri is talisman of Indian team: Stephen Constantine

Coach Stephen Constantine praised star striker Sunil Chhetri following India’s 4-1 triumph over Puerto Rico in an international football friendly, at the Andheri Sports Complex, in Mumbai on Saturday night.

Chhetri, who had handed over his captain’s armband to goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu for the match, played a part in all three of India’s first half goals, setting up two of them, and scoring a peach of a free kick himself.

“Sunil is the talisman of this team. He’s a wonderful player, he’s been scoring goals for the last 10 years,” said Constantine after the match. “He’s kept himself fit, he’s one of the leaders of the team. He is the captain of this team and as long as he’s fit, he will play.

“A player of his calibre, you have to find a place for him in the team. And I think for me, his (best) place is behind the striker,” said Constantine.

“He brings other people into the game, he’s got an eye for goal, he sees the pass and he works. He does the work, so personally, I like to play him behind the striker.”

Although Constantine was happy with the result, he said giving his players the right kind of exposure is the main positive he will take out of the game against Puerto Rico.

“We need to play internationals to climb the international rankings. One game is not going to help,” said the 53-year-old.

He highlighted that bringing new talented players into the national team, and giving them a chance ranks high on his agenda. Defenders Daniel Lalhimpuia and Germanpreet Singh made their international debuts against Puerto Rico, after coming on as second half substitutes.

The Englishman went on to highlight the importance of playing quality opposition like Peurto Rico, in order to improve the team.

He said, “It gave our players the chance to play against South American opposition, which is not something you do usually.”