Arata’s best performance against his former club

The Japanese Player of Indian Origin is happy with his play against East Bengal in Pune FC's I-League debut.

He had turned out for East Bengal in the I-League just two-seasons ago, however, East Bengal did not retain him. He had a mediocre last two seasons with Mahindra United. He has since joined the newly promoted I-League Division 1 team, Pune Football Club (PFC).

Meet the the attacking midfielder, who is filling the PIO quota for Pune FC, Neelkantha Narendra Khambolja, or popularly, Izuma Arata.

Arata yesterday played exceedingly well against his former club. His powerful shot pierced East Bengals’ defence, and only found the keeper before the goal-net.

Talking to IndianFootball.com, Arata insisted that there was no such urge to give the best agianst his former club, but there was enormous crowd support, so that motivated him to give his best.

When asked about his reaction when missing the man-of-the-match (MOM) award narrowly to defender Chika Wali, team man Arata promptly responded, “It really does not matter to me who gets the MOM award, we played well, and one of my teammate got the award.”

"I am happy!", laughs Arata.

Arata is gradually living up to his billing. Maybe this season of I-League will provide him the platform.