Sunil Chhetri has dazzled millions in India for close to a decade and now the Indian football legend will lend his expertise from the studio for the upcoming 2024 EUROs, which gets underway in Germany on June 14. The 39-year-old, who recently retired from the International stage, is excited.
During a virtual interaction with select media, Sunil Chhetri picked the “usual suspects” as favourites to win the 2024 European Championships.
“Germany, Spain and Italy are due. The last six or seven years haven’t been as great as what their heritage is. France has been outstanding in the last 6 to 8 years, but I’m putting my neck out and saying it’s England for me.”
“I’m not saying that they’re going to win the tournament, but they are my favourites. I think they are the right spot right now, with all the experiences of the last five or six years and all the young guns becoming world beaters now I think they have a great mix,” Chhetri said.
The reason, Chhetri explains, is that England have been failing at the final hurdle in the last few tournaments and have it in them to go another step further this time around.
“Last one (Euro) they lost in the last hurdle. In the World Cup they had a good showing. Why I picked them is because, in the knockout matches things can go here and there. Things can happen. But generally from the group stages, you pick a team which is quite sorted in all departments, is in a good run and has been in form. So that’s why I pick England,” he said.
“A lot of the players have played championships lately domestically, there is no shortage of talent. Think about a team that has left (James) Madison, (Marcus) Rashford and (Jack) Grealish. Just imagine the kind of talent they have. So the other reason why I picked England as one of the favourites is because they are quite sorted all around the pitch,” he added.
When quizzed about who he predicts to be in the reckoning for the Golden Boot at 2024 EURO, Chhetri seemed assured about England skipper Harry Kane.
“It’s a difficult one, but you’ve got to pick the strikers, who are in form, who have played big tournaments before, and the ones who will have the chance to play more matches [at Euro 2024]. I would pick Harry Kane, another player who can win is Kylian Mbappe because chances of him playing more games are there,” he said.
“Purely on a probability basis, Kane since he plays for a team in which he is going to get a lot of supply [to find the back of the net]. England will also be the dominant side based on who they’re going to play.”
“There are many other top players you can pick, (Cristiano) Ronaldo is one of them. You can never bet against Ronaldo, the whole world knows it but… Kane.”
As for Ronaldo, who may be playing his last international tournament for Portugal, Chhetri believes the superstar may just continue.
“I don’t want to say it will probably be his last tournament. I don’t want to say that. You never know with him.”
The former India international feels Ronaldo has it in him to score more goals for Portugal and that is why he is in the team this time around and why he will continue to be named.
“He (Ronaldo) might not be the same, as far as defensive duties are concerned, as what he was 10 years back. But being Portugal, where they are sorted in all the other departments. I’m pretty sure they can do a little bit more defensively and let Ronaldo around the box to get the goals,” he said.
Sunil Chhetri is the expert panellist on Sony Sports Network’s studio show Football Extraaa for UEFA EURO 2024.
Watch UEFA EURO 2024 from 15th June 2024, 12:30 AM IST onwards, LIVE on Sony Sports Ten 2 SD & HD, Sony Sports Ten 3 SD & HD (Hindi), Sony Sports Ten 4 SD & HD (Tamil / Telugu), Sony Sports Ten 5 SD & HD (Malayalam / Bengali).
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