Ready to roll in Santosh Trophy

However,Railways’ loss was Chandigarh’s gain as Chandigarh Football Association (CFA) jumped at the opportunity and asked RCF to relieve him till June 3 for the championship. After all,Gopal was part of the Chandigarh squad that participated in 2007 and 2008 Santosh Trophy championship. “I agreed to play for Chandigarh as soon as CFA contacted me. I share a good rapport with Chandigarh players. I had been playing with them for so many years and we played in the previous two editions of Santosh Trophy also,” said the 23-year-old.

Coming up with some remarkable performances in the sub-junior level,Gopal slowly began to make his mark in the junior level also. His presence in the Indian Under-19 School National team that played in Singapore is a testimony to that fact. Thereafter,he played in U-21 National Championship and soon cornered eye of some clubs. “I played for National Football Club for one year after which I joined Hindustan Club,” said the player who plays at the centre-half position.

Some initiative from one of his coaches almost saw him take trials for selection in the Sporting Clube de Goa team but he chose to go for RCF instead. “The RCF selectors called me for trials after they had seen me during a tournament. I gave it a shot and six of us were selected,” said Gopal who idolises Brazilian duo of Ronaldo and Ronaldinho.

With only five days left to go for the kick-off ceremony of Santosh Trophy championship,Gopal feels that the Chandigarh team is a much improved unit this time. “Chandigarh has always performed well given that it’s a small city with not much football following and also lack of a proper ground. However,this time the players are in good form and everybody is ready for the challenge. Right now,all we want to do is qualify for the quarter-finals,” said Gopal in a confident voice.

What happens in Santosh Trophy is yet to be seen but Gopal has already chalked out his plans for the future. “I want to play in the Railways team. This time I was unfortunate but next year I would definitely be there,” said the player as he pulled up his socks for another practice session with his team-mates.