Jeje Lalpekhlua has been in phenomenal form, especially for the national team, having hit 10 goals in his last 11 games for the Blue Tigers. And he was given his due recognition as he bagged the Player of the Year award for the year 2016 at the Annual AIFF Awards held last week in Mumbai.
And speaking about the Mizo hitman in front of the media and the forward himself, Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri termed him as the best player in the current Indian set up and said praised his work ethics.
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“He (Jeje) just keeps scoring goals for us. And that’s what makes us so happy. What we all should do is keep praying that Jeje is fit for us. He plays, we score. It’s as simple as that. This guy (Jeje) is the best player we have in our country. People can differ but this is what I feel.
“I generally don’t praise players in front of them but he has been outstanding for the country. When he is there, we are comfortable. It’s as simple as that. In the team, we say, ‘You don’t have answers? Give the ball to Jeje’. He is so good right now that I just hope and pray that he retains this form. He is going to take us places.”
The year 2016 also saw Jeje lead Mohun Bagan to the title in the Federation Cup. His seven goals in the tournament was a record for any player in a single edition of the event.
Rather take a bad win than a good loss
The Indian team under Stephen Constantine are on a historical run where they have won seven games on the trot – helping them get into the top 100 of the FIFA rankings for the first time in over two decades. However, of late their performances have been far from convincing – especially in the wins against Cambodia and Myanmar.
Even against Nepal – a side ranked more than 70 places below them, the Indian playing on their home turf in Mumbai didn’t always look all that convincing.
However, Chhetri opined that at the end of the day it’s the results that matter and that helps in keeping the atmosphere in the dressing room positive and ironing out the mistakes in a methodical manner.
“I will always like to win. I know no wants to play bad or not play up to the expectations of the country. But when you get a win, you are always happy. If you ask me to pick between when you play good and you lose and when you played good or alright but lose, I will always take the win.
“It’s very very important for us to keep winning. It just changes everything. The dressing room is a happy dressing room. There are fewer people murmuring. There are fewer people pointing fingers.
“The more we win, the bigger we are going to get. It doesn’t always matter when and against whom. If you keeping winning, you become a different team. And we can all feel that in the dressing room,” stated the skipper
India takes on the Kyrgyz Republic at the Shree Kanteerava Stadium in Bangalore on 13th June in their second game of the Third Round of the 2019 AFC Asian Cup Qualifiers - a clash which sees the top teams from Group A collide.
With the top two teams from the group qualifying for the tournament in UAE in two year’s time, a win at home for the Indians will be a huge step towards the Asia Cup.
Also Read: 5 players with worse international records than Jeje Lalpekhlua
