QUEEN’S ROAD: As India clash with Oman in their 2018 World Cup soccer qualifier, all eyes will be on a lightly built but tireless midfielder answering to the name of Eugeneson Lyngdoh.
A very intelligent and hard-working midfielder, who is also a free-kick specialist, Lyngdoh has a crucial role to play if India are to do well.
He did splendidly for Bengaluru FC in the I-League where the team ended as the runners-up to Mohun Bagan. He was the toast of the Bengaluru FC awards night recently when he bagged both the Fans’ Player of the Year and the Players’ Player of the Year awards.
Lyngdoh capped an outstanding debut season for BFC with eight goals and 16 assists. Not just that, his contributions came when the team badly needed them.
“It’s been a pleasure, my first year at BFC. And everything I did was because of my teammates and the fans. The fact that they think I am worthy of this award makes it even more special. I hope to have many successful seasons at this club and cannot thank Ashley Westwood and Pradhyum Reddy enough for the chance they have given me,” said Lyngdoh.
“Every player wants to play for the champions and when the coach called me and told me he wanted me, I was thrilled. No one had actually called me before and when he did, I was over the moon. I didn’t show anyone that I was excited, though. I thought about it and made my decision to come here knowing that it would be for the betterment of my playing career,” he said.
Westwood was all praise for him. “He is a really good footballer. He is very fit. He has had five or six months to put in the fitness work that he has not managed to have before. Technically, he is a good box to box midfielder. He can tackle, he can score goals. At the minute, he looks like a real good all-round midfielder,” the Englishman opined.
Lyngdoh played for Ar Hima, which later became Rangdajied, where his Dad is the president. “I quit my engineering course in the third year to play football. When I had to stay a semester down because of my back papers, I started playing for Ar Hima in Shillong. The club got promoted to the second division I-League and it went from there,” he says.
“I spent five years at Bishop Cotton Boys School in Bengaluru and I always enjoyed being here and always wanted to come back so it was not a hard decision to make when I joined BFC,” added Lyngdoh.
It will be good to play in the national team as he also has his BFC teammates Sunil Chhetri and Robin Singh, here. Coach Stephen Constantine surely has a player of quality and can hope to achieve something in the game.