Motivation level remains high: Chhetri

Yangon: India football captain Sunil Chettri Tuesday said the motivation level among Indian players remains high for Wednesday`s tie against Myanmar in the AFC Challenge Cup qualifier here.

Chettri said India have done everything right in the tournament and it would be sad if they don`t qualify for the final round. "In such a tournament, we need to realise that everything which we have done till now will nullify if we don`t qualify from this group - right from the Pune Camp to the high intensity practice sessions to the two victories in two matches - everything will be valueless. We need to be very careful and aim for what we want to achieve," said Chettri Asked about Myanmar, Chettri said: "They are a very tough team with good technical qualities. Let`s not forget that they will be playing at home and will be backed by a vociferous hostile support. But at the same time, we need to remember that we have bettered ourselves in the last two games. Everyone is ready for the task." The Churchill Brothers` striker said the team was high on confident after back-to-back victory against Chinese Taipei and Guam. "We are confident after the back-to-back victories which we achieved against Chinese Taipei and Guam. I personally believe we play well in such kind of matches as you are automatically charged up and the motivation level also stays high," he said. Chettri also said that personally he was happy since he was back among goals. "Scoring goals makes me happy - in fact, that`s a worldwide trend. I missed a couple of chances in the first match and getting two goals to my name adds to my confidence. I will try my best to find the back of the rival net in the match against Myanmar. But it just doesn`t matter as to who scores as long as we qualify and achieve our aim," he said. Asked if captaincy was an added responsibility, Chettri said: "I had never believed it earlier but am feeling the responsibility a bit more now at the moment. I don`t know how good or bad I am, but I am going my best to do my job. I need to admit that having players from the same batch - Subrata Pal, Syed Rahim Nabi, Gouramangi Singh, Syed Rahim Nabi, Mehtab Hossain - makes my job easier." IANS