Former India captain Sunil Chhetri said that he can’t help but feel jealous of the current crop of players who will get to play in high profile friendlies against the likes of Brazil and Uruguay. The two Latin American sides will be joined by Panama with the Blue Tigers set to play the matches on October 3, October 6 and September 26 respectively.

“I feel a little jealous as a spectator. In my 24–26 years as a professional and nearly 20 years with the national team, I never got an opportunity like this,” Chhetri said as per an AIFF release. “This is their time. There are so many talented youngsters in the team. Everyone gets their opportunity; just like I got mine 20 years ago,” he added.

When asked if he will be back in India colours in the future, Chhetri joked that his fitness wasn’t what it used to be. “I just trained for 20 minutes. I’m around 42 now, I can barely run properly and I’m struggling,” he said.

Story continues below this ad

Meanwhile, the matches vs Uruguay and Brazil will be held in Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium while the Panama clash will take place in the Sree Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru.

These Uruguay and Panama matches were added to AIFF’s calendar after India withdrew from the inaugural FIFA ASEAN Cup in order to prioritise their high-profile friendly against Brazil, thus avoiding a scheduling clash that had made their participation in both competitions untenable.

India were invited to participate in the inaugural edition of the FIFA ASEAN Cup in June. Indonesia were named hosts, with India drawn alongside the hosts, Singapore and Malaysia. On 30 July, however, AIFF announced a friendly against Brazil, which will be played in Kolkata’s Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan on 3 October.

The AIFF had initially insisted that India would compete in both competitions, but it eventually became an unfeasible proposition. The federation had explored the possibility of sending separate squads to the two competitions, but that option was ultimately ruled out on technical grounds.