Intercontinental Cup 2018: Stephen Constantine assures Anirudh Thapa is here to stay and sees streaks of himself in Pronay Halder

Indian national team gaffer Stephen Constantine was visibly satisfied after his boys humiliated Chinese Taipei 5-0 and heaped praises on the whole team. Constantine claimed Anirudh Thapa can be there in the national team for the next 10 years while lauding Pronay Halder’s eye-catching performance in the match.

India got off to an emphatic start in the Intercontinental Cup 2018 as skipper Sunil Chhetri led from the front with a third hat-trick in his international career in. Udanta Singh and Pronay Halder scored a goal apiece to complete a 5-0 humiliation of Chinese Taipei.

"I think we played well in quite a few games in the last few months. Today everything clicked; the boys were much sharper than they were in the previous two games. There were few encouraging performances from the youngsters," Constantine said after the match.

The Englishman had special words of appreciation for two youngsters Anirudh Thapa and Pronay Halder. When quizzed about Pronay Halder’s return to the national fold after an injury lay-off the gaffer admitted that he sees streaks of himself in Halder and lauded his goal-scoring strike.

"Look Pronay never left; it was injury that kept him away. Pronay reminds me of me as a young player. He is aggressive; sometimes too aggressive and needs to control that. But today he was superb. He's a destroyer and I'm pleased he got the goal; it was a fantastic strike,” said Constantine.

Speaking about Anirudh Thapa, who was a live wire in the midfield Constantine said, "Thapa has great potential and works hard. We need that to continue. I gave him his debut last year. He could be with the national team for the next ten years."

Chinese Taipei had fielded a number of their U-23 and U-18 players during the match. However, India have much tougher opposition ahead of them, in the form of Kenya and New Zealand.