SAFF Championship 2013: "This is the most important goal of my career" - Arnab Mondal

Arnab Mondal‘s first-ever international goal saw India beat Maldives 1-0 in their SAFF Championship 2013 semi-final and the match winner dedicated the strike to the entire nation.

“This is a goal for everybody back home. Of course I must thank my teammates, coach, support staff and family for always supporting me,” he stated after the game.

In the past, Arnab has been unlucky with injuries and missed out on international assignments but the East Bengal defender has no regrets.

“All that is behind me now. I am here at the SAFF Championship playing for my country so I am very proud about it but there is still one more game which we must win to keep the trophy in India,” he stated.

India frustrated Maldives skipper Ali Ashfaq throughout the game and Arnab revealed that the task of stopping Ashfaq wasn’t given to any particular player.

“No player in specific was assigned to stop him (Ashfaq). The idea was to not give him any time and space at all so whoever was near him tried to close him down. We defended as a team today,” Arnab stated.

Arnab doesn’t score often but when he does it usually comes on the big stage like the equaliser in the 2012 Federation Cup final against Dempo and the centre back rates this goal higher.

“I think this goal is more important and in fact the most important of my career so far,” he concluded.