On the eve of the India versus Kuwait football match, Indian coach Igor Stimac had said that this was the biggest game altogether in his career as a player and coach as a win could change the future of Indian soccer. They have a chance to make 1.5 billion people happy, he had said, and they'll need to do everything to make it happen.
It didn't go as planned as the Blue Tigers were held to a goalless draw on Thursday in the penultimate Group A fixture of the FIFA World Cup 2026 and AFC Asian Cup 2027 preliminary joint qualification round 2. A win would have made it a fitting farewell for football captain Sunil Chhetri.
As the referee blew the final whistle, Chhetri stood alone near the centre of the field a tad disappointed, reminiscent of an iconic photo of Lionel Messi after Argentina lost to France in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
As a 19-year glittering career came to an end, a visibly emotional Chhetri, with tears in his eyes, went around the stadium with folded hands, thanking fans and soaking up the applause, in a moment that sent goosebumps.
In the end, the Indian team gave him a guard of honour as Chhetri walked past them, thanking the crowd again and went down the stairs into the tunnel for one last time amid a deafening crowd.
ARRIVED 🏟️ 🥁 📢
pic.twitter.com/uZ3Z0flCJKThe craze for tickets to watch the last dance of "Captain Fantastic", as Chettri is popularly known, was such that a little boy on a bicycle stopped in front of the main gate a couple of hours before the start, asking for a ticket.
A day earlier, Stimac, who insisted on having the match at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, described the supporters as the 12th player, urging them to back the blues until the final whistle.
The victory didn't come, but the 58,921-strong crowd didn't disappoint.
As the teams entered the field prior to the playing of national anthems before play, fans unfurled giant tifos, with one of them saying "Sonar Sunil", borrowing from the Bengali phrase "Sonar Bangla" or Golden Bengal. Other banners featured the famous Bengali song "Tomay Hrid Majhare Rakhbo" (Will keep you in my heart), and "Thank You Chhetri", "Thanks Captain, Leader, Legend".
Throughout the match, the crowd was vociferous, especially when the home team was making an attack on the opponent's goal, making a defensive tackle or when a Kuwaiti player got a yellow card. Chants of "Chhetri, Chhetri" reverberated through the stadium with Viking claps.
Fans wondered who would succeed Chhetri.
"India may be getting a good striker soon, but getting someone of the calibre of Chhetri will be tough," Akash Bhadra, a die-hard East Bengal supporter who watched the match, said. "Everyone is a player, but to be a legend of Indian football, it requires an X factor."
"You have been a golden boy of Bengal, Captain of the Indian football team, a sports icon of Asia, a globally adored scorer, a giant achiever," West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee posted on X. "It isn't a day of farewell for you. It is a day to renew your pledge to uphold the glory of your family, Bengal and India further and further."
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