AFC Asian Cup 2024: Sunil Chhetri Wife Teaches Him Important Lesson, Reveals India Captain

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AFC Asian Cup 2024 will be India's acid test for all the hard work that has been put by the national side under coach Igor Stimac over the last four and a half years. And with all the outside noise in build up to the tournament, the side's captain Sunil Chhetri revealed that his wife noted that the striker was taking too much pressure.

The 39-year-old forward, who is the highest goalscorer in the continent among active players, said he wants to enjoy whatever time he has left with the Blue Tigers while paying heed to his wife Sonam Bhattacharya.

"That's the way I want to play, whatever time I have left with the National Team," Sunil Chhetri told the-aiff.com. "I had a chat with my wife about the Asian Cup and the World Cup Qualifiers against Afghanistan later, and it seemed to her that I was taking too much pressure with these matches.

"She told me to just go out there and enjoy. You start playing football because you love it. When we used to play the small sided games as kids, it was for the enjoyment of the game. But when you become pro, you get bogged down by all the noise and expectations, and the wins and the losses. Sometimes we tend to forget why we started it all. The essence of football is lost.

"It's all about the mindset of going out there and enjoying it. Of course, you still have to maintain discipline, and do all the things that you have to do around football, you can't forget your duties, but at the end of the day, once you go out there, you should enjoy what you're doing."

World No. 102 India will play their opening Group B match of the AFC Asian Cup 2024 on coming Saturday (January 13) against World No. 25 Australia, who are the fourth highest-ranking team in the tournament. They will later on face World No. 68 Uzbekistan (January 18) and World No. 92 Syria (January 23) with the aim to finish at least second in the group, direct route to qualify for the knockout stages.