Sunil Chhetri -- the hungry striker!
WHAT COMES to your mind when I say, striker? While you think about it, I'm stating my list along with a great example (a personality) taken from Indian football. Following are the adjectives that come to my mind -- fast, agile, alert, basically on his toes ready to fire away, most important having shots on target.
All of these can be put into one word and that is 'Hunger'. Unless the striker is not hungry for goals, he won't be fast, agile, etc. Every sport demands the athlete to be fit and ready for action, more so in the game of football. And as a player grows older, the body tends to get slower, his touches going down as compared to his 'prime' playing days.
There's already a good example of that in ISL with likes of Berbatov, Robbie Kean etc. But this Indian footballer at the age of 33, still has the firepower that every player would dream of having. Not that 33 is too old but our National Team and Bengaluru FC captain Sunil Chhetri continues to display the adrenaline rush running through him with all those goals and milestones he has achieved.
According to me, at present there is no other Indian striker who is as hungry to get goals for his club or national team. Chhetri has always stepped up for his team, and at times when it's needed the most. These are the facts that all of us know, all I am trying to do here is appreciate that hunger and zeal in him that keeps him going.
There are several examples to prove the above stated facts but what's still fresh in mind is the fixture between Chennaiyin FC and Bengaluru FC. The match took place on 6th February and what Chhetri displayed has been edged in my memories. BFC scored three goals and all of them had their captain involved.
To state few numbers that holds true with his hunger for scoring include: being the highest Indian goal-scorer internationally (56), surpassed Bhaichung Bhutia's tally of 89 goals in the history of a top division league in India (NFL/I-League), has a crossed the 50 goal margin for his club Bengaluru FC.
Talking about ISL, in 2015 and 2016 editions he played for Mumbai City FC. In 2015, he scored a total of 7 goals (which also included a hat-trick) - making him the highest Indian goal-scorer. In 2016, he only played a total of six matches as he had the AFC Cup commitments with Bengaluru FC.
In the ongoing season, 2017-18 (playing for Bengaluru FC), he tops the list of highest Indian goal-scorers once again, bettering his previous record of 7 - at the time of publishing, 9 goals.
Coming to back to the CFC vs BFC game, the first two goals scored for the latter had first touches by Chhetri that were finished by the respective goal-scorers. I'll dissect the goals, the first one was a cross from Khabra from the right that saw Chhetri heading it down and Haokip taking the shot in the net. The second one was a free-kick taken by Dimas Delgado which was well connected by Chhetri to shoot on target but it was pushed away by CFC keeper but it still headed towards the goal and once again it was a steal - this time by Miku who just touched it with love and took the goal to his name.
This put Bengaluru in a good position but the match wouldn't have completed without a goal from the captain. The final goal saw Udanta 'Flash' Singh run up to the goal and in doing so clashed with the keeper but managed to flick the ball over that had Chhetri waiting to shoot into an open net and he rarely misses those. The man got his goal and the third for his team that sealed the match and probably filled his hunger for the night as the match came to an end.
.@bengalurufc exacted revenge over @ChennaiyinFC in the Southern Derby as they eased to victory in Chennai!
— Indian Super League (@IndSuperLeague) February 6, 2018
More videos: https://t.co/cVyUhTONeX#ISLRecap #LetsFootball #CHEBEN pic.twitter.com/Ti5sol13ff
Bengaluru then took on FC Goa on 9th February, thought Chhetri didn't get a goal for himself, his presence was felt throughout the match and it kept the Gaurs' defenders on toes. And he did try scoring with two good chances of which one saw a grand right footer volley from him being saved by the Goa keeper.
He is a captain but also the leader of striking and scoring. He has made scoring a habit and it is a bloody good one! As we say for wine, the older the better, Chhetri seems to be brewing and getting better with having a good appetite and his hunger for scoring goals only seems to be increasing.
With inputs in stats from Aditya Warty - ISL analyst
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