Confident we will make the ISL playoffs, says Mumbai City FC's Subrata Pal

Last year, India ushered in a new football league - the Indian Super League - to jampacked stadiums filled with screaming fans. The league helped raise the level of football being played in the country. Ahead of it’s second season, Mumbai City FC’s 28-year-old goalkeeper, Subrata Pal, wants all of that and more.

His career has seen him play in the Indian team for almost a decade and he is seen as India’s best goalkeeper. Subrata was one of the people who held the fort last year when Mumbai were sinking-literally. Time and again he had to swoop in and save the team but even he wasn’t enough. They finished seventh out of a possible eighth.

“It’s crazy in just a year of the ISL being launched how many people come up to me and talk to me about football,” Subrata told Firstpost. “If so much happened in just the last 10 months I’m so excited to see what will happen now that the second season is going to start.”

Subrata is expected to be between the sticks for ex-Chelsea player Nicolas Anelka’s team come the start of the season. They play their opening game against Pune City FC, against whom Brazilian-forward Andre Moritz scored a brilliant hat-trick last year.

On handling the pressures of the game and newer, younger competition coming up in the goalkeeping field Subrata said to Firstpost, “When I train, I train like it’s my last training. I give my 300 percent on the pitch and then it’s up to the coaches to decide if I play or not.”

Subrata is seen as a mentor to many of the next gen goalkeepers India has and in the future one of them will be his replacement for the National team. But is this something Subrata worries about?

“I never think about where I’m going to play or for whom. I just concentrate on performing well. In training I give my 100 percent in last ten years I’ve missed only ten matches because I was injured and had surgery in my leg. So I’m not worried you know, I know I can play for India and do it well.”

“I have very good relations with the other keepers like Gurpreet and Karanjeet, Arindam and junior guys, all of us get along and we have a healthy communication channel and we’re very good friends but on the pitch we’re competitors,” he adds showing a hint of his competitive spirit that has kept him at the top of his game for this long.

Mumbai City FC co-owner Ranbir Kapoor revealed that the club is looking for a potential win this year.

“I know the players have promised you top four finish but I’m promising you top of the league,” Ranbir said to a group of journalists at the event at Tote on the Turf in Mahalakshmi with Puma – their official kit sponsors for ISL 2015. Is that too much pressure for the team’s goalkeeper?

Subrata nonchalantly adds, “On paper we’re a great team.There’s no denying it and I am confident we will at least make the play-offs. At least. And then we look at it from there.”

When asked if this year’s team be better than last season? “Oh definitely,” says Subrata to Firstpost. “We’re definitely going to finish in the top four.”