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The Times of India
The Times of India
Sport
Adwaidh Rajan | TNN

Gokulam Kerala FC reaping the rewards of hard labour

Gokulam Kerala FC's founding philosophy was to become a champion team. Though it is not an easy thing to do, Gokulam have walked the talk, not once but twice now in the most competitive league they have been involved in, the I-League.

It has been a trophy-laden five years for Gokulam as their men's and women's teams have delivered a Durand Cup, an Indian Women's League crown, two Kerala Premier League titles besides the two I-League titles to their trophy cabinet in Kozhikode.

Of all their achievements to date, defending the I-League title this season, perhaps, might be the biggest. "I have felt winning the I-League title is a bad omen. Many teams have failed miserably at defending their title the following season. We have even seen former champions fold up after winning the title," said Praveen.

Gokulam's title defence was made strenuous after losing 13 of their championship-winning players from last season. In came nine new faces - most of them from their reserve squad. "Our head coach was worried about losing so many players," recalled Praveen.

"We started our pre-season early and made additions and subtractions to find the right balance," said Praveen. The signing of proven goal scorer Luka Majcen, for instance, when the league was suspended in January proved particularly decisive.

"We had experienced players who made a difference in each department. But what has been impressive is how we adapted to the opponents. We knew each team's weaknesses and how to attack and defend against them," said coach Vincenzo Alberto Annese.

"In my second season here, I also started to understand Indian football better. Not just me, our captain Sharif Mukhammad, Aminou Bouba, Majcen, and others have also had time to settle. That has made a bit of a difference this time around," Annese spoke about his second season.

Gokulam's latest triumph has come at a time when Kerala football is on a high. The state has just won the Santosh Trophy, Kerala Blasters finished runners-up in the Indian Super League, Calicut University are the all-India inter-university champions and MG University are fresh off winning the Khelo India University Games football crown.

"People used to ask me in disbelief why we do not have a club from Kerala in I-League for some time. Gokulam is the answer to that question. Winning the I-League is not easy, but to do that twice in a row needs a lot of dedication from players, coaches and management," said Sushanth Mathew, who captained Gokulam in their debut season.

Gokulam's quest for titles looks set to continue, especially with promotion to the ISL on the offing for next season's I-League winners onwards. "As I said earlier, if we do play in the ISL, we will be competitive. We just need to be smart with our signings and we can have a proper team to play in the ISL," said Praveen.

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