Scouting Report: Who is U-17 SAFF star Thanglalsoun Gangte?

The young prodigy finished as one of the joint top-scorers of the recently concluded tournament with four goals.

The recently concluded U-17 SAFF Championship proved to be a dream run for the young Indians who successfully defended their title, and that too in style. One of the most inspiring takeaways from the tournament was the performance of Thanglalsoun Gangte. He played a key role in India's triumph by scoring four goals. All of his goals came in two matches in the form of braces, one of which was the semifinal.

Playing on the right side of the Indian attack, Gangte wreaked havoc on the opposition defence in all the matches. His persistence in going forward kept the opposition defenders on their toes and compelled them to make mistakes. As a result, the Indian team never found it difficult to score goals.

Scouting Report

Age: 16

Date of Birth: April 22, 2006

Position: Forward

Place of Birth: Manipur

Current Club: Sudeva Delhi FC

Debut

Thanglalsoun Gangte got his first break after being selected for the futsal squad of Sudeva Delhi FC at an age of 15. He played his first major tournament for the club in 2021 when he debuted in the 2021 Futsal Club Championship, the top-flight of club futsal competition in India.

For those who don't know, futsal is an association football-based game played on a hard court that is smaller than a football pitch. The game heavily borrows its features from five-a-side football and indoor soccer.

Gangte performed quite well in the tournament and scored three goals, including a brace. Even though his team could not go past the group stages, his performance attracted the attention of scouts of national youth teams. Therefore, soon he was called for U-17 trials.

Gangte's repeated his futsal performance on the football pitch as well. This earned him a place in the national U-17 squad. Fast-forwarding to the present, he took part in his first major international tournament and performed quite remarkably. He is on a healthy trajectory in his football journey. Thus, we expect to see him in the senior squad soon.

Positives

The fact that Gangte is one of the top scorers of the tournament speaks a lot about what he has to offer. He scored brilliant goals at crucial moments in the semifinal to take India to the final.

Throughout the competition, his technical prowess, good composure, and clinical finishing earned him plaudits from the Indian football fraternity. Moreover, he showed great maturity on the pitch and made his mark whenever it was required.

A major positive feature of Gangte has been his constant looming presence in the opposition's penalty box. Even in the matches in which he did not score, he kept on pushing the opposition's defence from the right side and made their lives difficult. His being a constant threat enabled other Indian strikers to score frequently, especially in the final match.

Aspects to Improve

With being just over 16 years of age and playing in his first major tournament, Gangte obviously has a lot of scopes to improve his game. We would not be too harsh on him right away to call out the aspects of his which need improvement. However, given the competitive nature of the sport, he definitely needs to keep on improving his overall gameplay.

He should be more clinical and focused in front of goal. He should also look to being less wasteful in his upcoming tournaments. After seeing him play his ace game in the competition, we can be highly hopeful of him being able to address all these aspects in the days ahead.

Future

Gangte's future definitely looks very bright, especially if he is able to maintain his consistency and fitness. In the near term, he would definitely eye a spot in the I-League squad of his club side, Sudeva Delhi FC. It would be great to see him play in the upcoming I-League and score in as many matches as possible.

In the longer run, Gangte has the potential to play in ISL. If he is able to work on the present platform, he would definitely become a force in Indian football. With proper guidance, he may be able to attract the attention of ISL outfits sooner than expected. The way he played in SAFF Championship at such a tender age has raised eyebrows across the entire country.

Thus, it would not be too much to state that he has the potential to play as a regular starter for top foreign teams when he hits his peak. Moreover, who can say, he might be the one answering the question, 'Who after Sunil?'.