By Pulasta Dhar
Sunil Chhetri rightfully won the AIFF Player of the Year with his stellar performances for India in international tournaments, but while he was banging in the goals, there was another player who was stealthily making a mark in Indian football, forcing pundits to term him as the next Bhaichung Bhutia.
Jeje Lalpekhlua may not be a household name at the moment, but if he continues his prolific start, proving to be a lurking danger for every defender, then he might well be the person stepping up to fill the gap left behind by the ex-India captain.
When one mentions that the media is hailing him as the next football prodigy, Jeje laughs it off with candour followed by silence which says a lot about his respect for Bhutia and the amount of pressure that could already be playing on his mind.
It just gets confirmed when he says, “My favourite player in India is Bhaichung Bhutia.”
This will probably be the most common answer if you asked the same question to a million Indian football fans.
Jeje Lalpekhlua in action. Reuters
But Jeje knows he still has a long way to go before he could achieve that stature. “I still need to concentrate on my practice everyday. I need to improve my performance for both my club side and the national side.”
His current overall record is sensational considering he is just 20 years old. He led the Under-19 team to the South Asian games in Sri Lanka and scored a hat-trick in the last group-stage match of the tournament.
But all those achievements are put into the shade by his senior record of scoring four goals in his first three appearances for India.
But the player, who has scored eight goals in 16 appearances for India says that it all started in Mizoram when he was spotted in the region’s most famous championship. “I was 16 when I played in the Wai-Wai tournament in Mizoram and got picked for India Under-19.
“That was also the time when Pune FC spotted me and I signed for them immediately.”
Since then, Jeje has been a regular in the squad, but it took him an impressive run of scoring 14 goals in 16 caps on a loan spell at Indian Arrows to prove his mettle.
Since then, he has been touted as the brightest prospect in Indian football.
Jeje credits most of his success to a family culture of playing sport. “My father played for the club for which I made my debut and my brother also plays football. I have had no problems in convincing them to let me take up the game as a career.”
In a country where education and degrees often act as a hindrance, Jeje and his family set an example to let youngsters excel in their field of interest.
But even though he had the skill and the penchant of playing the Beautiful Game, his coach Benjamin (Ari Academy in Mizoram) says that he was very raw when he first came to him.
“We had to work a lot on his receiving and agility — two factors which are very important for a striker but he was hard-working, determined and very healthy and that gave me confidence that he could go on and make it to the national team.”
His international career looks set to continue as India step up their efforts to make a mark in Asian football and if he keeps banging in the goals, then a bigger club may come calling very soon.
“He is at the right place right now and should not move to Kolkata before he is 23-24 years of age because it is a big city and there is a lot of pressure there,” said Benjamin.
Talking about big cities, Jeje is said to be particularly shy about his surroundings and his coach remembers how he was surprised when he first visited Aizwal.
“He was from a small town and had no knowledge about city life. But he did his best to cope up with it!”
Knowing big places may not be his forte, but Jeje’s excellence took him to one of the most famous football cities — Glasgow.
Along with Sunil Chhetri, he went for a trial at Scottish club Rangers FC and was awestruck with the facilities there. “They have eight pitches for practice! Eight pitches! And we find it hard to get even one ground here to practice.”
Surely Scotland made a great impression on him and they have apparently promised the Indian that they will keep track of his record.
But can Indians really play in Europe? “There is not much difference in the skill and technique, but they play very fast football and they are physically very strong. I still think it will take time for someone to adjust to those rigours.”
He is also of the view that Indian players need better agents to make inroads into international leagues like those in Qatar, China and Japan. “The problem also comes down to whether you have a well connected agent. We don’t have that here and it restricts our opportunities to go abroad,” he said.
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