Sport
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Football
Anchery - a versatile star
By S.R. Suryanarayan
Jo Paul Anchery ... reward for hard work. - Photo: K. Gajendran
CHENNAI, JAN. 3. Recognition has not come a day too soon for Jo Paul Anchery. The `player of the year' award that AIFF has bestowed on him is not new to this affable footballer from Thrissur. He had won it almost seven years ago when his striking boots heralded him to the national scene with a bang. That passing years has not withered his effectiveness nor the frequent change of positions on field diluted his role in the team only makes Anchery the most durable footballer in current times.
Anchery easily fits in as one among the triumvirates of modern Indian football. If Baichung Bhutia is a dazzler who can mesmerise any opposition when at his best, I.M. Vijayan has often been described as a `silent assassin' for his nonchalant ways of delivering the goods. A blend of these two has been Anchery because he can scare any opposition with his sharp shooting, leave a defence in shatters with his imaginative runs and passes and additionally be an effective tackler in his own defence, thanks to his strong legs and stout physique.
If looks mean anything, certainly Anchery is in every sense a quintessential footballer with his compact build and ball skills. Maybe he did not initially savour the exalted status enjoyed by Bhutia and Vijayan, but even these two big names will vouch that much of their success chart has been drafted by Anchery himself with his naggingly accurate through and high balls.
But where Anchery has departed from the two and distinguished himself is in donning different roles with success at various times in keeping with the designs of the coaches he has worked under. Shaped by Joseph Raice during his formative years in school, Anchery's scoring abilities blossomed early for him to get noticed at the national level. Breaking into the Indian team as an under-19 in 1992, Anchery progressed the next year as an under-21 for the now defunct Rajiv Gandhi International tourney.
Consistency and perseverance paid off as he landed a job with the State Bank of Travancore. In 1994 he made his Santosh Trophy debut and the same year flew with the Indian team for the Doha Independence Cup tourney. The `best player of the tournament' there was the first major recognition of his budding career before greener pastures in Kolkata lured him away from his birth place to perform in the unbelievable ambience of the Kolkata maidans.
With Vijayan also there with Mohun Bagan then, Anchery was not short of company and advice. It is a measure of their close link that the two moved as a pair from Kolkata to Ludhiana (JCT), thereafter to Kochi (FC Kochin) and now to Kolkata again (East Bengal). However, with each passing year, Anchery has only increasingly become a pivotal player in the Indian team.
From a striker to defender and then to attacking midfielder, Anchery has played them all with assurance and panache to be deservedly considered the `utility' player in the Indian team. Thus, when he earned the mantle of captaincy for the Kathmandu SAF Games and the pre-Olympics thereafter, it seemed a logical progress to stardom.
Playing at his peak during India's campaign in the recent pre-World Cup, in particular his role in helping India draw with Yemen in the away match at Sana'a and also India's win over UAE (the ultimate qualifier) has helped him earn the latest recognition from AIFF. May be the parent body was also influenced by his sensational run of success in his latest tenure in the Kolkata football settings.
Just over 27 years and currently considered the costliest Indian player, Anchery still has exciting times ahead provided opportunities do not slip away as they have lately, following the international developments after the September 11 terrorist strikes on the WTC in US. The SAF Games in Pakistan was postponed as was the Afro-Asian Games in Delhi. The SAFF Cup in Dhaka, scheduled later this month, is the next in line but nobody knows what its fate would be. Besides, he has also to keep away from injury, something that has been haunting him for long. Ever since the knee-twist he suffered at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai during the 1995 SAF Games, Anchery has had a score of injuries putting him out of action. That he could overcome these odds and remain in the national reckoning forms one of the stirring chapters in his saga to the top.
In honouring Anchery the AIFF has recognised the virtues of a player, who is a team man to the core and known for his down-to-earth nature and multi-faceted versatility. None deserves the award more.
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