AFC Asian Cup 2019: play your heart out because such opportunities don’t each and every day,” Renedy Singh
With the AFC Asian Cup
2019 knocking at the door, former Indian midfielder Renedy Singh, a member of
India’s AFC Asian Cup Doha 2011 campaign, feels talismanic striker “Sunil
Chhetri sets the best example in the current team.”
“There are many players
who have been doing well recently. But for me, Sunil sets the best example. He
has done so well consistently over the past few years. He may not be growing
younger, but most significantly, he’s not just there to support. He is there to
lead by example,” he maintained.
Renedy, best remembered
for his accurate crosses from the flanks and his dead ball exploits, also
certified that “Sunil is at the stage of his career where he can take up that
mantle.”
“It’s good to see that
Sunil has improved as a dead-ball player. Back in our days, he never used to
take free-kicks -- it was either me or Steven Dias,” he recollected. “But then
one fine day, he walked up to me and said, ‘Renedy-bhai, you can’t take both
free-kicks and penalties. I want to chip in too,” Renedy smiled. “So we decided
that Sunil will take penalties, and we would continue taking the free-kicks.”
“But he didn’t stay
content with the penalties. Rather, he improved himself as a free-kick taker.
In fact, he has scored from many free-kicks since then,” Renedy stated. “Just
outside the box, Sunil has been deadly. A bit further down, I think (Anirudh)
Thapa and Narayan Das are pretty good with the dead ball too,” opined Renedy.
“You have the others
around Sunil to support him – the likes of Gurpreet, Sandesh, and Jeje are the
senior players who should lead by example. Then the younger lot will also
follow.”
Renedy feels India’s
first match against Thailand will set the tone. “We have to go all-out against
Thailand in the first match. Do not think about UAE, do not think about
Bahrain. Just go after the result in the first game,” Renedy explained. “Only
after the match we can decide on the next course of action. If they can get a
result against China, we should be able to do the same against Thailand.”
“The Asian Cup is a huge
platform and there’s always something to learn from these matches. Play your
heart out because such opportunities don’t each and every day,” he pronounced.
