![\"football](\"https:\/\/indiansportsnews.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/football-icon-league-260.jpg\"){kind=icon}
NEW DELHI: Not many football players score their first goal from the half-line, in fact, it is rather a rarity when a goal is scored from the half-line in football. But when Sanjeev Stalin struck the ball from the half-way line little did he know that he was articulating one of the rarest forms of scoring goals in football.<\/p>\n
In that moment, all Sanjeev could think about was how his father would have been feeling seeing him score a stunner. \u201cMy first goal was from the half-way line in a local football tournament and it was an amazing feeling. All I could think about was how happy would my father be at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father played football, but he never played it professionally, in fact, he introduced me to the sport and my father had a dream of seeing me play football for the nation\u201d, Stalin says. Hence when one asks Stalin who is favourite footballer is, the defender thinks little about Messi or Ronaldo and quips \u201cMy father Stalin senior\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am what I am because of him. He made everything possible for me in life. We have clothes’ shop on the footpath and my father has been my biggest inspiration to never give up in life\u201d<\/p>\n
But that is not it. \u201cI started playing football barefoot and the first time I wore cleats, it felt uneasy\u201d, quips Sanjeev.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut after a while, I grew used to them. I was 10 when I first joined the Chandigarh Football Academy and my life changed from there\u201d<\/p>\n
Sanjeev Stalin has been a vital clog in the Indian U-17s defence line and has been, \u201cfulfilling his family\u2019s wishes\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family always wanted me to play football and represent the nation. I am thankful to god that I have a family which supports me through thick and thin. Everything I do is for them\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI: Not many football players score their first goal from the half-line, in fact, it is rather a rarity when a goal is scored from the half-line in football. But when Sanjeev Stalin struck the ball from the half-way line little did he know that he was articulating one of the rarest forms of scoring goals in football.<\/p>\n
In that moment, all Sanjeev could think about was how his father would have been feeling seeing him score a stunner. \u201cMy first goal was from the half-way line in a local football tournament and it was an amazing feeling. All I could think about was how happy would my father be at that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[6480,466,22688],"class_list":["post-35511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football-football","tag-indian-sports","tag-indian-sports-news","tag-sanjeev-stalin"],"yoast_head":"\n