Lallianzuala Chhangte has risen the ranks to become a mainstay for the Indian national team and will play a key role in their pursuits in the AFC Asian Cup in Qatar. The ISL Golden Ball winner delivered impressive numbers by scoring 10 goals and assisting six times to help Mumbai City FC secure the League Winners’ Shield last season. He was named the All India Football Federation (AIFF) Player of the Year for 2022-23 and his seven strikes in 32 appearances for the Blue Tigers suggest that he is hungry for success at the international level.
Chhangte trusts the team playing the Asian Cup to come on top of the challenges that they will encounter in terms of facing Australia, Uzbekistan, and Syria in the group stages. Speaking in the latest episode of In the Stands, he mentioned the squad has an impressive fighting spirit fostered due to years of playing together as a unit.
“When it comes to the national team, you are representing 1.4 billion people. You can’t take off your mind and go somewhere else. You have to be focused, during trainings, gym, and especially before the games. So, the atmosphere needs to be perfect, and it is good. We have been together for three-four years, and it is a great team. We have learnt so many things from each other, so when we take this into the game, we fight for each other and the entire nation,” he said, while speaking on Indian Super League’s ‘In The Stands’ show.
“It was a huge risk to choose to be a professional footballer”
Chhangte hails from Lunglei in Mizoram, but he started his career with the Pune-based DSK Shivajians, before going on to have stints at NorthEast United FC, Delhi Dynamos FC, and Chennaiyin FC in the ISL. He switched to the Islanders in a loan move in January 2022, before his transfer was sealed ahead of the 2022-23 season. Chhangte’s parents are teachers, but he thanks them for believing in his dream to become a professional footballer. He mentions that very few players have actually made it to the top-tier from Mizoram, and hence his decision to dare to dream was actually a big risk.
“Looking back to where I came from, I am living a definite dream right now. I never thought I would be playing in one of the best clubs in India. To represent the country was just a dream back then. My dad and my grandfather were a huge fan of football. So playing football was never a problem, but doing so professionally was a problem. We have got Jeje (Lalpekhlua), Ricky Lallamwamwa, and very few players playing professionally from Mizoram. So, it was a huge challenge and a big risk to play and to decide to be a professional footballer,” Chhangte said.
