Advertisement
The Indian football team made a winning start in the SAFF Championship. India thrashed Pakistan 4-0 on Wednesday (June 21) at the Srikanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru. Right from the start of the match, the Indian players performed brilliantly and kept the ball in their court for most of the time. Captain Sunil Chhetri was the hero of this match for India. He performed brilliantly and rained goals on Pakistan. Chhetri scored a hat-trick. Apart from him, Udanta Singh scored one goal. The Indian captain scored two goals from penalty corners. Udanta Singh scored the goal for India in the 81st minute. However, Udanta Singh was fielded as a substitute player.
India’s ranking best in the tournament
The eight teams participating in the 14th edition of the SAFF Championship have been divided into two groups. Group A also has Kuwait, Nepal and Pakistan team along with India. Whereas, Group B has Lebanon, Maldives, Bhutan and Bangladesh. The Indian team, led by Sunil Chhetri, is FIFA’s best ranked team in this tournament. Team India is ranked 101st in the FIFA rankings. At the same time, Pakistan has the worst ranking among the teams playing in this tournament. Pakistan ranked 195th in FIFA rankings
With this, Chhetri became the second Asian player to score the most goals in international football. Iran’s Al Dei has 109 goals in 149 matches while Chhetri now has 90 goals. With this hat-trick, Chhetri has scored 90 goals in 138 matches.
Mokhtar Dahari’s record was broken
Sunil Chhetri broke the record of Malaysian veteran footballer Mokhtar Dahari in terms of scoring the most goals in football history. He scored 89 goals in 142 matches. With this, Chhetri has come close to Argentine star footballer Lionel Messi. Messi has so far scored 103 goals in 173 matches. Chhetri is 13 goals behind him. At the top of this list is the name of Portugal’s star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo has scored 123 goals in 200 matches. While Iran’s Ali Dai is second with 109 goals in 148 matches.
