Chhetri may turn out for B'lore club in I-League

India skipper Sunil Chhetri sounded positive about the possibility of him playing for the Bangalore-based I-League club owned by the JSW group. 

Chhetri, who would be leaving for Portugal to play for Sporting Lisbon’s ‘B’ team, felt the Jindal group had a great vision for the sport and added it would be nice to be part of that vision. 

“They (Jindals) have great plans for the club and Bangalore as we all know has a very good sports and footballing culture. It would be exciting..let’s see what happens. You might see me here in a month’s time,’’ the striker said at a function where he handed out Nike Finisher Tees to the leading finishers at the World 10K last month here. 

Talking about his stay at Sporting, Chhetri felt he would look to move if the opportunities remain as limited as they have been. 

“I’ve just played six games so far, never started, so if things continue to stay that way then I will certainly think of coming back to India,’’ the Delhi-born forward said. 

Conference model

Chhetri was not unduly worried about AIFF introducing the conference format for the I-League in the 2013-14 season, more so after the clubs expressed their concerns in a recent meeting. 

“Personally I have no problems with the format, as long as there is the right division of matches and the 13 international friendlies not clashing with them, I have no issues,’’ he added. 

Chhetri was non-commital on the AIFF’s plans to start a franchise-based league on the IPL model. “It’s too early to talk about that as there are not many details known about the league, I would not like to comment about it now,’’ he said. 

Chhetri said Sunday’s Confederations Cup final will be a huge game.

 “It is going to be a massive, massive match. I am a Spain supporter but beating Brazil in their own backyard will be difficult,’’ he added. 

“Neymar going up against his Barcelona counterparts will be very interesting,’’ Chhetri said. 

Chhetri, who ran the  World 10k, said the organisers were quite apprehensive when he decided to run the race as promised. 

“They told me not to embarrass us by not completing the run but when I finished the 10k in 44 minutes they were not to be seen anywhere,’’ added Chhetri eliciting laughtersfrom the audience.