Former Amavubi Coach appoints Chhetri as India captain

{India national team coach Stephen Constantine has appointed Sunil Chhetri as his side’s captain. The Bengaluru FC skipper will lead the Blue Tigers on Tuesday against Guam in their second Group D game of the 2018 World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers at Guam Football Association National Training Center.}

Experienced custodian, Subrata Paul wore the armband when India beat Nepal over two legs in the preliminary qualifiers. Thereafter, Arnab Mondal was named the captain when India faced Oman last week. However, a swift shift with regard to the team’s captaincy is not out of the ordinary under the British-Cypriot tactician. During his brief but successful stint in charge of the Rwanda national team, he had used four separate captains over the course of eight months.

“If you take one match at a time, the target stays lesser. So right now, we have moved on from our last match and are focussing on Guam,” said Chhetri.

“Technically and tactically there have been a lot of changes in the team. The hunger and desire is back in the squad and we need to collectively give 100 per cent to get results. Guam have definitely improved a lot from the last time we played them. On the surface one didn’t give them much of a chance against Turkmenistan but this squad is a different side altogether. Their win speaks volumes of the improvement and we have huge respect for Guam,” he mentioned.