Former India star Renedy Singh is hoping that his football-crazy house state of Manipur will get to host extra nationwide crew matches within the close to future.
Manipur, which has been offering footballers to the nationwide crew for the longest time, is internet hosting its first worldwide competitors within the type of the continued tri-nation event involving India, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan.
The seven Manipuris within the present Indian crew are fortunate to expertise one thing that one of many state’s best gamers, Renedy, couldn’t whereas representing the Blue Tigers.
“I was part of the national team for 12 years, but I never got to play even one match over here,” stated Renedy, the previous midfielder who donned the India jersey 66 occasions between 1998 and 2011.
Renedy was the star performer in a lot of India’s memorable triumphs, together with the LG Cup in Vietnam, the AFC Challenge Cup and twice within the Nehru Cup, however by no means had the chance to play for the nationwide crew in entrance of his house crowd in Manipur.
“I feel 25-30 thousand people turning up for India’s first match in Manipur is a big thing. I’m really happy for the current Manipuri players, and I hope we get more matches in the future,” Renedy stated.
“In this state, football has always been number one. It’s not cricket here in the northeast,” he stated.
“As we all know, we’re one of the states which produces the most number of footballers, and we are still working hard to produce more. In every locality and community, you will see kids playing football. If the academies in Manipur keep working, I’m sure we’ll continue to provide good players in the future.”
Speaking of academies, Renedy himself is a coach on the Classic Football Academy (CFA), one in every of Manipur’s greatest, and one which is more and more making its mark on the nationwide stage.
CFA began as Renedy Football School in 2018 earlier than being renamed three years in the past.
“We just became the Hero U-17 Youth Cup champions. Our U-21 squad qualified for the Manipur state league and won the Shaheed Manoranjan Singh Memorial Tournament, beating former champions Sagolband United 7-0,” Renedy stated proudly.
Rigorous competitors on the youth stage is an enormous motive why Manipur stands out by way of churning out nationwide crew gamers.
“There are many academies in Manipur with former players as coaches who are also working hard. Our rivalry and competition will only help Indian football,” he claimed.
As a coach, Renedy spends quite a lot of time analysing his crew’s matches. So, in attendance on the India-Myanmar recreation, it was pure for him to make some assessments.
“Our players are fit, fast and well-built, but the only thing I want to see is them being more comfortable with the ball,” he stated.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com