Asian Cup finals: Chhetri, Sandhu ready for their third bow

What is common to the talismanic Indian football skipper Sunil Chhetri and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu? The upcoming Asian Cup finals in Doha will be the third appearance in the continental showpiece for both – the last two being in 2011 and 2019. 

No mean feat this, given the fact that the Blue Tigers have managed to qualify for the final round of the tournament only five times in nearly six decades:  1964, 1984, 2011, 2019 and 2023. The ensuing one is actually a backlog from last year with Qatar stepping in hosts after China pulled out citing risks from the aftermath of the Covid pandemic.  

While the 1964 edition remains India’s most memorable stint as they finished runners-up behind Israel (it was a round-robin tournament), they have never made it past the group stage after that. 

While Chhetri had already shown the potential to be the heir apparent to Baichung Bhutia during the 2011 edition in Qatar, Sandhu had then just broken through the ranks as an 18-year-old. “The experience of sharing the dressing room with the likes of Subrata Paul, Baichung, Renedy Singh and all these legends and seeing them at the height of their careers was an absolute joy. I used to enjoy myself in training a lot,” Gurpreet reflected during a recent chat with the AIFF media team. 

‘’I would get pushed around a lot as a young, skinny, lanky keeper. But I was just like a sponge, learning on and off the pitch. Now as one of the senior members of this team, I just share whatever knowledge I have acquired in these years.” 

Now 31, Sandhu has turned out to be a long serving shot-stopper of the Indian team, who won over many a fan in the diaspora crowd in Doha when his stellar show against hosts Qatar in a World Cup qualifier in 2019 helped the underdogs finish with a goalless draw. It was one of their most redeeming matches during the qualifiers for Qatar 2022 which fizzled out soon after.  

How does he compare the two squads of 2011 and current one at either end of a decade? ‘’There’s been a big transition over the years. A lot of the players in 2011 were on the verge of ending their careers, so we had fresh players come in after that,” he said, before adding: “Now we are at a stage where many of the boys have already played an Asian Cup before – Sandesh (Jhingan), Subha (Subhasish Bose) and Anirudh Thapa were all part of the Asian Cup last time and will be playing their second edition this time around. 

“Over the years, this has grown to be an experienced and educated lot in terms of footballing aptitude, albeit a hungrier side,” said Sandhu, who turned out for a season with Norwegian club Stabaek in 2014. 

For the tall and wiry customer, turning up with the right intent could be all it takes. “I’ve learnt over the years that one needs to show the right intent that we have. As a player, I did not know how important it could be to show intent in the last two Asian Cups. In 2011, I was just 18 and was lucky to even be in the side and in 2019, I was playing at that stage for the first time, but I think I have the correct experience now to come with that intent and have it rub off on the others,” he said. 

Centreback Sandesh Jhingan, now very much the leader of defence, is meanwhile raring to go for back-to-back Asian Cup finals after his bow in the previous edition in the UAE. Looking back at five years ago, Jhingan said: “Everyone talks about the Bahrain game, but I think we should have done better against the UAE. We should have taken our chances against them. This is a stage where the margin for error is very low, and even the smallest of mistakes can really hurt you,” he added. 

India will start their campaign against Australia, ranked 25^th, in the first of their Group B games on 13 January. Uzbekistan and Syria are the other two teams in the group.