AFC Asian Cup 2019: 'India drew Iran, South Korea, Australia and Japan in 4 dummy draws,' says Sunil Chhetri

Sunil Chhetri
Sunil Chhetri

The entire Indian footballing community heaved a huge sigh of relief, when the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Draw pitted Sunil Chhetri and co in Group A, against hosts UAE, Bahrain and Thailand. This essentially meant that India would avoid Asian giants like Iran, Australia, Japan and South Korea in the group stage.

Chhetri was one of the Asian football stars who were present in Dubai UAE to draw the teams out of the respective pots. Incidentally, the first team that the national team captain picked out of the pot was India, something that amused the audience quite a lot. The 33-year-old, however, did not keep any expectations from the draws himself.

"I wasn't really looking at the permutation-combination at that time. Just when the India name came out, I felt really good. I wasn't really expecting anything when the draw came out," Chhetri said exclusively to Sportskeeda.

A game of chances...

India got relatively lower ranked teams in the AFC Asian Cup draw.
India got relatively lower ranked teams in the AFC Asian Cup draw.

The draw can be a tricky affair, and that is why the likes of Chhetri, Phil Younghusband (Philippines), former Manchester City and China star Sun Jihai, former Iran star Ali Daei had to practice dummy draws, before the actual event.

"We actually had four dummy draws before the actual thing. We got different teams, so I was already prepared (for the worst). We were really happy to be at the Asian Cup. We know whichever team we face, it's going to be difficult. So I'm really happy with the draw," he said.

While India drew relatively lower ranked sides in the official draw, some of the teams that the Blue Tigers were grouped with, in the dummy event would have brought back memories of the 2011 Asian Cup, when they were grouped with South Korea, Australia and Bahrain.

Chhetri went on to reveal that India drew some of the top Asian teams like Japan, North Korea, Australia, and Syria in different dummy draws, which shows that the kind of group a team is in, can vary on different occasions.

"We got some difficult ones and some interesting ones. I think we got Japan, Uzbekistan and DPR Korea once. Once we got Australia, Syria and Turkmenistan. And another time we got Iran, along with Uzbekistan and DPR Korea for the second time," said Chhetri.

Improved players since 2011 Asian Cup

A number of foreign coaches have had an influence on Indian football in recent years.
A number of foreign coaches have had an influence on Indian football in recent years.

The 1964 Asian Cup runners-up have not had such great performances at the tournament in recent times. The last time India made it to the tournament was eight years ago in Qatar, where they had lost all three of their group stage matches.

However, Chhetri believes that the Indian players will benefit from the boom that football in the country has experienced over the past few years. He believes that the sheer number of quality coaches in the ISL and I-League have helped the players.

"It's not about the country where the coach comes from. It's the pedigree that he comes with. It's about how prepared he is, his ideology, and how he tries to inculcate it in the game," he said. "There’s a lot of coaches who have done well, and I just hope for all the players that our improved versions go out there give our best in the Asian Cup."

India have had a brilliant run over the past two years, going on a 13-match unbeaten run. While they did lose their last match against Kyrgyzstan, the Blue Tigers will now be focusing on their preparation for the continental tournament.

It will be interesting to see how the Blue Tigers fare in their next campaign against tough sides like South Africa, New Zealand and Chines Taipei in the Intercontinental Cup, which gets underway in the first week of June.

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Edited by Sagnik Kundu