Sunil Chhetri was the man of the moment once again as he scored a brace to lead India to a 2-0 victory over Cambodia in their Asian Cup qualifying final round encounter at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata on Wednesday.
Igor Stimac’s team were not at their best and failed to take advantage of their superior possession against a poor opponent, but the 37-year-old brought back Chhetri from injury to score on either side of the interval (13th and 59th minute).
He reclaimed the third position on the world’s top scorers lists among active players with the two goals. Chhetri has 82 goals in 127 games, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (117) and Lionel Messi of Argentina (86).
READ MORE: Sunil Chhetri’s India is ready to face 171st-ranked Cambodia in Asian Cup qualifying
Following a stressful start in which their top centre-back Sandesh Jhingan was sent out for disagreeing with the referee in the third minute, Chhetri calmed the nerves by calmly converting a 14th-minute penalty.
Liston Colaco was the one who was tripped inside the box by Cambodian Kok Boris. Chhetri went centre stage and smashed his thunderous strike past a diving Hul Kimhuy.
After then, it was a story of squandered opportunities for the Blue Tigers, who failed to justify their 69 per cent possession to take a small lead into halftime.
It was not the type of start the Blue Tigers desired against the lowly Angkor Warriors, as Chhetri missed several headers and was even penalised in the 30th minute for a hard foul on Choun Chanchav.
The Blue Tigers’ offence became more fluid after substitutions at halftime, with Sahal Abdul Samad and Udanta Singh replacing Manvir Singh and Anirudh Thapa.
Finally, Chhetri completed his hat trick thanks to a brilliant assist from Brandon Fernandes, giving India a 2-0 lead at the hour mark.
The Goan proclaimed his return to the starting XI with a calculated cross, and Chhetri soared just enough to connect the free header and score his 82nd international goal.
In the 68th minute, Stimac took the Indian captain out and replaced him with Ashique Kuruniyan.
This was Stimac’s first victory on home turf since taking over as head coach of the Blue Tigers.
Stimac has lost three times and drew twice at home this season, surrendering 13 goals.
National anthem glitch mars start
A technological fault delayed the match. The Cambodian side had to wait nearly 10 minutes for their national anthem to be performed, much to the All India Football Federation’s humiliation.
The announcement was for the national song of the visiting team, but what was played was the Indian national anthem, and the Cambodians waited.
Hong Kong is off to a good start.
Wong Wai’s (23rd) and Matt Orr’s (27th) first-half goals helped Hong Kong defeat Afghanistan 2-1 earlier in the day, giving them a winning start.
