Bengaluru: Ryan Williams is enjoying his international career. He’s 32 and just started.There was a lone game with Australia in 2019, and after surrendering his citizenship to take up an Indian passport last year, he has played three matches for his adopted country. To say he has hit the ground running will be an understatement.Williams scored on his debut against Hong Kong, picked up an injury in the Unity Cup opener against Jamaica, but his best, not surprisingly, came at home against Panama. The Bengaluru FC forward not just scored the lone goal for India in the 1-1 draw against the World Cuppers, fittingly he also walked away with the player of the match award at the the Sree Kanteerava stadium here on Friday.“I am taking it game by game, enjoying it,” Williams told TOI during the post-match interaction. “I love coming to the camp with these boys. They’ve made me (feel) so welcome, and a lot of credit goes to them. They could have very easily, kind of, excluded me, because I am an outsider. You have to call a spade a spade. They’ve been amazing with me, they’ve given me the confidence, backed me up. As long as I am on the pitch, I will always give 100 percent.”Against Panama, ranked 44 in the world and a side that had five players who featured against Croatia and England at the FIFA World Cup three months ago, Williams was among the more impressive players. His strike was wonderful. The Australian-born Indian ran to chase a long ball from Aakash Mishra, and with only the goalkeeper to outsmart, showed remarkable composure to bury his shot into the bottom corner.The home crowd roared. Williams took in the applause, standing with his arms spread wide.“This goal is really special. I started my career here, in Indian football. For me to score in front of all the fans, especially West Block Blues and BFC fans, was very special. Like the coach (Khalid Jamil) said, it’s all about togetherness. We have a good group, you can see that on the pitch. There’s not one player who did not give his all,” said Williams.It was, as Williams pointed out, a collective effort. But for Panama coach Thomas Christiansen, there was one player who made the difference.“He’s the best player, one who makes the difference, one who everyone looks up to,” said Christiansen, who knows Williams from their time in England. “He presses, fights, challenges the opponent. He’s a leader in the team. Prior to the game, he was the one player to keep an eye on.”
