The former Indian Footballer Renedy Singh has defended the Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri after the veteran striker had an off day in the World Cup qualifier against Afghanistan.
Renedy is of the opinion that Chhetri is a quality player and going into an important match, it is expected off him to score, but a goal is not guaranteed from any Footballer, however good he is.
“Chhetri is not God. There were not many players who went into those scoring positions. He headed well from Pritam Kotal’s cross but the goalkeeper should also get his due.” Renedy was quoted saying by Goal.com.
The 40-year old, who is into management these days, reckons that Chhetri’s header was well timed. The fact that it wasn’t converted into a goal was down to the opposition goalie who made a brilliant save.
Renedy was not happy with the overall approach of the Indian team against Afghanistan. Renedy thinks Afghanistan are not as strong as some of the other Asian team like Qatar or Oman, so India could have afforded to be a bit more on the attack. But, they didn’t do that. They stayed back for most parts of the game.
According to Renedy, as the game progressed further and India started playing slightly up, the game turned and India were able to create more pressure on Afghanistan. They should have done that right from the start of the game.
“Afghanistan is not Qatar or Oman. Yes, they are a good side and we were playing away. But still, I think we gave them too much respect in the first half and we paid the price.”, Renedy added.
India were favourites to win against Afghanistan, but they couldn’t live up to the expectations and could fetch only one point from the game as the scoreline read 1-1 when the final whistle was blown.
