By Paritosh Pramanik :
“DURAND Cup title win is in
the past now. I am concentrating on the Indian Super
League (ISL),” said Asheer
Akhtar, the star defender of
North East United that won
the oldest football tournament of Asia a fortnight ago.
Asheer, the talismanic
footballer from Kamptee, has
put the glory days to bed and
is now determined to take his
side to much greater heights
in Indian football.
NorthEast United stunned
all by clinching their maiden Durand Cup title defeating football giants Mohun
Bagan in their own den in
Kolkata late last month.
Asheer was part of that history making NE United team
which came from a two -goal
deficit to score two in three
minutes of the second half
and take the match into
shoot-out where they
emerged winners with a 3-2
verdict. “It was a dream
match.We came back strongly. We played as a unit and
supported each other till the
final whistle,” recalled Asheer
while talking with ‘The
Hitavada’ on Friday.
“But that’s past now.We celebrated the win and enjoyed
it a lot. Now, the expectations are high. We have
moved forward and are looking for a much better show
in the Indian Super League,”
Asheer said.
“Now we have a much bigger responsibility. Earlier,
with no title in our bag we
were not taken seriously by
other teams. But now, all the
teams are wary of our potential. They are aware of what
we have done and what we
can do,” added the robust
North East United defender.
When taken back to that
memorable final and post
match celebrations, Asheer
said, “that moment will
remain etched in my memories forever. My parents, my
wife, my son, and other family members were there in the
Stadium watching the final.
That was a once in a lifetime
moment,” recalled Asheer,
who grew up in the bylanes
of Kamptee, the nursery of
football in Nagpur.
The icing on the cake was
celebrating with team owner and Bollywood star John
Abraham.
“It was unbelievable. He
( John Abraham) is the sole
owner of our team and takes
all decisions. But at the same
time he is a very down to
earth person despite being
such a big celebrity. He treated us like a family and always
backed us. After the final, he
was elated and celebrated
with the whole team.
It was
a huge moment for him as
well because after 10 years
his team has won a trophy,”
added Asheer, son of
Mehfooz Akhtar, a former
Police goalkeeper.
Asheer is aware of the
increased expectations from
fans and supporters and said
that the team will work hard.
“We now have a new season in front of us. The expectations are high and the fans
want us to keep going in the
same vein. Our responsibilities have increased and we
will have to double our efforts.
We will be playing our first
match of ISL against
Mohammedan Sporting on
coming Monday in Kolkata.
Last year we missed the playoffs by a point. We want to
start well and will take one
game at a time. Definitely,
our target will be the play-off
berth first,” Asheer signed off.