Spotlight at last on the backroom boy

At last the spotlight finally fell on the backroom boys. The midfielders traditionally play the support cast to the stars in the forwardline...

At last the spotlight finally fell on the backroom boys. The midfielders traditionally play the support cast to the stars in the forwardline or the penalty corner specialist studs. But when left-half Ignace Tirkey was named the Player of the Tournament at the Asia Cup, it was the day of reckoning for the unsung hero.

Playing with a head injury which he suffered in a league game, Ignace today with his tight marking, immaculate tackling, creative feeding and then that out of blue strike in the 69th minute impressed everyone. Olympian Ashok Kumar, who watched the action on television, gave Ignace the MVP long before the judges in KL came to that same conclusion. ‘‘The player who made the difference in this tournament was Ignace. I don’t give importance to the goal scorers but credit is due to the man who plays for the team. Ignace fulfilled both the roles today.’’ After a forgetful outing at the Champions Trophy at Amstelveen, Ignace was all charged to make amends here. Talking to The Indian Express from Kuala Lumpur he confessed that before the Asia Cup ‘‘he was quite upset with his lacklustre show in the Champions Trophy and was desperate to prove himself at the Asia Cup.’’

But as the tournament progressed Ignace must have realised that this Asia Cup would be a tough assignment. With the Indian forwards not showing the kind of form they did at Amstelveen, Ignace had to raise the bar. A noticeable change in Ignace’s play here was his confident forward runs. Was that a pre-determined change in style? ‘‘Yes, to some extent. I was not bothered about moving up or down the field. I just wanted to contribute everywhere,’’ he says.

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Playing as a left-half, a position which is widely considered as the toughest on field, Ignace has come up the hard way. From a small village in Sundergarh district in the tribal belt of Orissa, Ignace moved to the Rourkela Sports Hostel where he learnt the nuances of the game. His smooth, easy style and an almost impeccable temperament saw him make it to the junior India team which won the World Cup. After that came the obvious graduation to the senior national team.

But despite this phenomenal rise, Ignace remains a simple village boy at heart. Tell him that it’s rare for a Indian midfielder to be named the Player of the Tournament and he modestly replies: ‘‘But I don’t feel that I had played that well.’’ There won’t be many around who would agree with Ignace.