Intercontinental Cup: India vs Kenya match tickets sold out post Sunil Chhetri's plea
Mumbai: In a surprising turn of events, the tickets for the Intercontinental Cup football game between India and Kenya to be held here have been sold out.
This comes two days after Sunil Chhetri’s special message for football fans in India, where he requested them to support the Indian football team by attending the match from the stadium.
Chhetri, one of the greatest footballers that India has produced, on Saturday made an impassioned plea to all the fans of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo -- "abuse us, criticise us but please come to watch the Indian national team play."
With less than two weeks left for World Cup football to begin and broadcasters urging fans of the 'beautiful game' to profess their love for their "doosri country" via hashtags, country's all-time highest goal-getter demanded some love and affection for their 'first country'.
This is nothing but a small plea from me to you. Take out a little time and give me a listen. pic.twitter.com/fcOA3qPH8i
— Sunil Chhetri (@chetrisunil11) June 2, 2018
India, who have improved their ranking to 97 in current Fifa chart, routed Chinese Taipei 5-0 on Friday in the opening game of the four-nation tournament with less than 2000 fans watching from the stands.
The skipper who scored his third international hat-trick in-front a near empty Mumbai Football Arena (MFA) stands, had a message for all the resident 'Gooners', 'Red Devils' and 'Catalans', for whom Arsenal, Manchester United and Barcelona means "we".
India will take on Kenya at the Mumbai Football Arena here on Monday as they hope to seal a spot in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, which also involves New Zealand.
Chhetri, India’s leading goal-scorer (59 goals), will play his 100th game for his country.
