I'm very delighted to have scored a goal like that and I wanted to score more" Pronoy Halder
A day after National
Coach Stephen Constantine described Pronoy Halder as a “destroyer,” Halder
stressed that he needs to “stay grounded and not get carried away.”
Reflecting back on his
wonderful strike against Chinese Taipei in the inaugural match of the Hero
Intercontinental Cup where he cut down the left and curled it past the diving
rival goalkeeper into the far corner, Halder admitted he “wants to score more like
this.”
“I'm very delighted to
have scored a goal like that. But I need to be more consistent if I want to
score more,”
Sitting relaxed at the
team hotel lobby, Halder, a former AIFF Academy graduate kept going back to his
days at the AIFF Academy under his “mentor” Colm Joseph Toal, the man who
shaped many a career in Indian Football.
“Earlier, I used to play
a central defender. But Colm-Sir introduced me as a defensive midfielder. The
days at the Academy made me confident and laid the track for me. The discipline
which we gathered from Colm-Sir has helped me a lot,” he stated.
“At that time we all
felt that maybe so much discipline was perhaps not needed. But we all adhered
to it. Today looking back, I understand had he not steered us through the rough
waters, we may have all been swept away,” Halder recollected. “He always used
to remind us that he will always follow us playing Football. I am so proud to
have being coached by him.”
Halder graduated out of
the AIFF Academy in 2011 along with his batchmates including Pritam Kotal,
Narayan Das, Halicharan Narzary, Brandon Fernandes, Sehnaj Singh, Bikramjit
Singh (jr) amongst others.
"After Colm Sir,
Stephen Constantine is the person who has taught me a lot. I try to execute the
plans laid down by him. After coming back from an injury lay-off, the
performance against Chinese Taipei was a relief for me,” he added.
The starting XI against
Chinese Taipei had seven ex-AIFF Academy cadets playing at tandem as a
five-star India ran away with the match to win 5-0.
Halder continued:
"I feel the AIFF Academy has played a major role in supplying players to
the National team and it must continue like this. The Academy grooms and
creates the supply line which helps the player to fit in the National Team
setup quite effortlessly."
Anirudh Thapa, another
AIFF Academy graduate who started alongside Halder seemed to be a befitting duo
at the midfield to wreck the damage.
"We complemented
each other well and helped to soak in the pressure from the defenders. Thapa
played a fantastic role in opening up the rival defence from behind and
tracking back to help the defenders. I hope this partnership will go from
strength to strength in the coming matches."
Looking ahead, Halder
stressed that he is ready for the Kenyan challenge in the next match. “We are
aware of their capabilities but will not let them go easily. We're ready for
the challenge and we hope to overcome them to step one step closer to the
final."