Anas Edathodika is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for the ISL-side Kerala Blasters. He has represented India on the national front. He was born on 15 February 1987. He hails from the Malappuram area of Kerala. Edathodika stands just over 6 feet tall which is perhaps the ideal height for a centre-back. He has a total of 19 appearances for the national side and has been a rock at the back.
And on 15th January 2019, he decided to quit the national side in order to make room for a young defender in the side. His final national appearance for the Indian national side was against Bahrain in the Al-Sharjah Stadium, Sharjah. The game turned out to be really heartbreaking both for the fans as well as the players. They were crushed out of the AFC Asian Cup in the back of this loss. And Anas could only sustain 2 minutes in the game and was substituted due to an injury. He was replaced by Salam Ranjan Singh. It would be fair to say it was his recurring injuries that forced him to take this step. This comes just a few hours after the coach parted ways.
His journey has had a lot of ups and downs. And we, at Sports Social, will take a look at that:
Early life: Anas Edathodika was born in Kondotty, Malappuram, Kerala. He belongs to a family which was not very well-off at that time. He started taking football seriously in the tenth grade. While playing football, he also worked as an auto-driver, driving people around the city for Rs 180 per day. He was spotted by a former international player Feroz Sherif while playing an inter-collegiate game. Sherif advised him to attend the trials for the I-League second division side Mumbai FC. He passed the trial and was signed. He led the side to promotion to the first division of the I-League.
Clubs that he played for: After playing four full-seasons with Mumbai, he joined their closest rivals, Pune FC on 23 July 2011. Before the 2012-13 season, he missed the pre-season matches due to malaria. But was back just in time for the first league appearance. He played all the 26 matches and ended up conceding only 26. For his heroics in the centre of the park, he was awarded ‘The Pune Football Club Player of the Year’ and became the first defender to do so. He was announced as the captain for the side in the 2013-14 season. He led the side to a dominant 3-1 victory over Mohammedan at the Salt Lake Stadium. With the emergence of the Indian Super League, Edathodika has had short stints with Delhi Dynamos and Jamshedpur FC. Now, he is a part of the Kerala Blasters team.
National team: Anas Edathodika made his professional debut in the year 2007 at the age of just over 20 years. But he had to wait for some 11 years to be a part of the national team. He debuted with a 3-2 victory over Cambodia in the March of 2017. He was aged at just above 30 years at that time. He has formed a formidable partnership with Sandesh Jhingan. Strikers found it difficult to break this pairing. They are in the Kerala Blasters team too. He had been a regular ever since his debut. He represented India on 19 occasions.
Probably there was some game-time left in him. But he stressed more on a new centre-back in his farewell post. With the next major tournament long away, let’s just hope that India fills this void in the centre of defence.
