Want to lift the ISL Trophy with Kerala Blasters, asserts Rahul KP

The 23-year-old also spoke on the AFC Asian Cup draw.

Kerala Blasters winger Rahul KP has for quite sometime now been a hotshot in the Indian football fraternity. The youngster possesses a number of innate abilities that are demanded by any modern day winger. His exceptional speed, added with a load of trickery, makes it very difficult for opponents to defend the whiz kid, who once in a decent position, can also play truly venomous balls for the attackers to poach.

Rahul’s journey began from the swampy streets of Kerala, where the player grew up playing street style football and local floodlight tournaments. Soon his passion for the game grew, and since then his journey has been mesmerising. Today, Rahul is indeed one of the brightest prospects in Indian football, and is a player who is loved by the entire community. 

Khel Now recently got the opportunity to interact with the player, at the Red Bull Four 2 Score National finals, where he spoke on a number of topics, including his past ISL season and his early years as a footballer. Here are the excerpts from the conversation with Rahul.

Rahul KP’s presence in the upcoming national team games

The Indian National team has a number of fixtures coming thick and fast, as Igor Stimac sets out to prepare his team for the upcoming Hero Intercontinental Cup. Having been called up for the squad, Rahul revealed that his presence will be questionable, due to an injury problem.

“I think I won't be able to join (national camp) really soon. That's what I need to confirm with the medical team right now because I don't know yet what my scenario is with the team. So I need to speak to the physios and the national team physio to confirm because I have an injury that I would not want to make it worse. So maybe I would take a step back,” Rahul told Khel Now.

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Thoughts on the Red Bull Four 2 Score

The Red Bull Four 2 Score is an action packed 4v4 football tournament, which gives amateur soccer players worldwide the chance to experience Red Bull’s unique ´power football´ philosophy first-hand. 

The tournament has been played across the nation, and through a number of rounds, to determine the national champions, who will be representing the nation at the World finals. 

This is what Rahul had to say when asked about his views on this entire initiative by Red Bull.

“I think it feels really nice, you know, because they get to go outside, play and perform and show and also being part of India and to see something happen like this, it's kind of a really proud moment for me as a footballer. I would love to play all these four and five sided games. I grew up playing all these games because I know how important it is to get this feel of street football and the street touch - that makes a big difference when you go to the higher levels for sure,” he said.

“All these events should happen more often and I would be appreciating for sure. I'll be calling all the people to come out and join this because this is like a crazy setup and also this is not just playing. You get to improve so much, you get to test your limits, you get to do a lot of things. Personally for me, this is my first event where I'm being invited from Red Bull and I feel really happy and pleasure to be here,” Rahul added.

His time playing such 4-a-side games

The state of Kerala is known for its floodlight tournaments, and street football. Being from the beautiful state, Rahul KP has participated in such games quite a number of times.

“I'm a Mallu, so I've been playing all these 7-a-side games, floodlight tournaments because I'm born in Thrissur and we have all these games happening and that's where I found my exact mentality about what I want to be. You have to also be a tough man to be participating in all these games. And I really enjoy and enjoyed playing it. I miss it for sure because when you sign a professional contract, you can't go back and play all these games because it's kind of out of something that you shouldn't be doing in contract as per is mentioned. But I would any day love to come down here and play because I love street football 100% any day,” he reminisced.

On his past ISL season

After making a sensational comeback from an injury issue that kept him on the sidelines in the 2021-22 season, Rahul had a great 2022-23 season, as he made quite a lot of appearances, and also helped his team have an incredible campaign, where they qualified for the playoffs. 

“I think it's the best season so far I've had with Kerala Blasters because I wasn't available for games before and to be available for the games was my biggest motive for the season and I haven't missed any training and none of the matches,” he asserted.

“It really feels good for me to be finishing the season as individual but as a team for sure we are aiming only for the championship. You know that's all we want but sadly we couldn't get it done. But we are always trying - going back from the training fields, keep grinding, getting back and this is the same motive. As long as I play for Kerala Blasters I want to lift that trophy. But for me personally, this was my best season because I was injury free and I could be available for all the training sessions and matches. So I feel really great,” he added.

Impact of Ivan on this team

Head coach Ivan Vukomanovic has been with the Blasters for the past two seasons, and his impact has been insurmountable. The Serbian tactician has revitalised the club, and has delighted the fans with his team’s brilliance. When asked about how much impact Ivan has had on him individually, as well the entire team, Rahul said:

“As a coach, he is amazing because we get to learn a lot of things from different coaches. For sure Ivan made a big impact on fans as well as the team, because winning games and having a positive outcome, getting out of this is something that fans were missing out. I think from the past two seasons it's been really nice and the fans have started having their hope back again and I think it's because of Ivan.” 

“He talks to me, it's good and it feels great to be working with a coach like that. You get to improve so much and learn new things and I'm happy. I'm looking forward to the coming season and let's see what we can make out of it.”

Red Bull’s contributions to Indian Football

Red Bull has contributed unimaginably towards the increasing popularity of football in the nation. This is done through tournaments or various other endeavours Red Bull initiate here in the country. Here’s what Rahul had to say in appreciation of Red Bull’s efforts.

“I think it's been really great as the team Red Bull which means they're worldwide and it's not the only sport they're doing. They're really great at sport and that's why I want to be a part of it personally. And I really love the setup how they really let any athlete go up because I personally know Harith Noah, he's my friend. I know how Red Bull support him as an athlete. He's a motorsport rider and it's like really good working with Red Bull. It feels really, really great because I think all these events someone's looking after it for a better athlete or a kid to come up. That's like an opportunity they're creating here. So it's like a really nice thing.”

“And I am really happy for what Red Bull is doing worldwide and this is amazing because there are players from all over the globe and also whoever they get to go outside and play and complete and see what they got and they get to measure their strength and its really important to organise all this events I feel.”

Thoughts on the AFC Asian Cup draw

India have a tough challenge ahead of them in the upcoming AFC Asian Cup, as they have been drawn into a pretty tough group, which includes the likes of Australia and Syria. When asked about his views on the tough challenge that India have ahead of them, Rahul gave a very positive reply, and exclaimed that the team are going to give in their best to bring about a surprising result.

“I think we have a long camp period now, they are going to call us and the training is going to be really nice. Stick together and believe in us because we are all training to be better because we can't go there thinking, ‘oh they are the biggest opponents’. No way, we are not going to do that. 100% we are going to go there thinking we gonna smash everyone, that's the mindset we got to go with,” Rahul claimed.

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“We can't go there thinking we are going to lose the game, no one is going to do that. From what I hear and feel from the coach, this camp is going to be really nice because they have a great setup coming up, like making the players take to it together for a longer term and also they are going to be friendly and stuff so that's going to be helping the players to stick together and create a better team and you know this is football, and we can never say what results can come out of this,” he added.