Sunil Chhetri lauds self belief of Indian youngsters after iconic victory against Afghanistan. Image Courtesy: AIFF 's stunning free-kick in the 86th minute could've won the game on any other day. But on Saturday, it didn't. Afghanistan equalized two minutes later from a corner situation.
Fans at the roaring Salt Lake Stadium were stunned. But unlike anything we have seen in the recent past, the Blue Tigers roared back and conquered the three points through an injury-time winner from Sahal.
But this team! The whole move by Udanta, Brandon, Ashique, and finally Sahal, was incredible. They have a lot of self-belief right from Gurpreet and Sandesh, who are the team leaders. It translates to the entire team. They are still not great players but they are not scared. But in the 85th minute, Ashique Kuruniyan was brought down just outside the Afghanistan box.
Sunil Chhetri stepped up to take the resulting freekick and beat the diving goalkeeper with a curling effort. The captain scores from the free kick spot outside the box, he shoots straight into the right corner of the net! But Sahal Abdul Samad turned the tie on its head with a late injury-time winner. Asked about his own performance against the Afghans, Sunil Chhetri stated: "I have a small role.
Everyone has their own role in the team. It's just that the most attractive role is mine, that's why people talk about it. Otherwise, we are all equally important.
