‘It will be a big challenge’- Sunil Chhetri speaks up ahead of India next clash against Uzbekistan in Asian Cup

India are currently competing in the Asian Football Confederation Asian Cup as the Blue Tigers. It will be up against some of the top teams of the world in this tournament and for a team that is ranked 102nd in the FIFA rankings, it will be a really good learning curve for the young Indian team and they will be only getting better form here. 

India faced Australia in their first match of the tournament and lost the game by 2-0. Although it was a loss given the 77 ranks difference between India and Australia it could be said that the Blue Tigers gave good competition to the Socceroos. India successfully held off the formidable Australians for 50 minutes, but unfortunately, a crucial mistake proved costly for the Blue Tigers, undoing all the positive efforts.

India is set to face Uzbekistan in their next fixture of the Asian Cup in Al Rayyan. Uzbekistan is a formidable outfit and is currently ranked at the 68th position in FIFA rankings and the Blue Tigers will have to bring in their A game to give tough competition to them. 

India Tiger’s skipper speaks ahead of Uzbekistan clash

Blue Tiger’s skipper Sunil Chhetri is aware of this fact and admitted the fact that they are not used to playing against such formidable teams that often and playing against such big teams has its pros and cons. But he also said that the team is analyzing the footage of their last match against Socceroos and will try to learn from their mistakes and rectify them in their upcoming fixtures.

Speaking to the All India Football Federation (AIFF), Sunil Chhetri said, "It's a mixed bag of feelings right now. Once we watch the videos, perhaps we will gain more confidence and work on the things that we could have done better."

He further added, "Uzbekistan is not Australia, but they're a good side nonetheless. So it will be a big challenge in that game too."