Inter Kashi’s Joni Kauko on return to India, I-league, recovering from ACL injury & more

The former Mohun Bagan star will be playing for I-League side, Inter Kashi this season.

Joni Kauko is a well-known name in Indian football. The midfielder played for the Finland national football team and was also in the squad for the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament. Following the competition, he made his move to India. 

He was part of the Mohun Bagan side that won the Indian Super League(ISL) Cup in the 2021-22 season and the ISL Shield in the 2023-24 season. With the Mariners, Joni Kauko made 50 appearances in all competitions, scoring 10 goals and providing 11 assists to his teammates. 

The 34-year-old signed up for I-League club Inter Kashi before the start of the 2024-25 season. Kauko will be lacing his boots for the legendary Indian Super League manager Antonio Habas, who is going to be managing Inter Kashi this season, in hopes of getting them promoted to the ISL.

Inter Kashi recently had their media day in Kolkata before the start of their I-League campaign. This is where Khel Now was joined by Joni Kauko for an exclusive interview. The excerpts from the interaction are shared below:

Joni Kauko’s return to India and relationship with Antonio Lopez Habas

“Yes, obviously because I’m again with him. So I like his style of handling players and handling the team, the way he coaches and the way he approaches the games, all these kinds of things. That’s one of the reasons why I joined Inter Kashi,” said Joni Kauko. 

Joni Kauko praised Habas by saying, “In the beginning, when I came to India I didn’t know so much about him, but we had a common friend. So we spoke about Antonio and he told me about him. When I got to know him more I realized that he’s a good coach. 

“Of course, I’m thankful that he took me here in the first place and he took me back again to Mohun Bagan last January. So I’m thankful for him as well.”

A special message from Joni Kauko, our newest star, sharing his excitement to join Inter Kashi! 🧡#HarHarKashi #InterKashi #UttarPradesh #indianfootball #newannouncement #ileague #JoniKauko #Kashi pic.twitter.com/t4r5q8E2g7

— Inter Kashi (@InterKashi) August 19, 2024

Difference between I-League & ISL

When the Finnish midfielder was asked whether he has watched I-League games and how different it is from ISL, he explained his thoughts.

“I haven’t seen any I-League teams play. I remember watching a couple of games in the previous years. I’ve seen some Durand Cup games, but of course, it’s different to say as they are not I-League games. So I don’t know what to expect from the teams. It’s only the things that I’ve heard from my teammates and that’s the only things that I can kind of take for myself.  

“I’ve heard the I-League has a lot of young promising players. Some players want to go to the ISL. But I think it will be very fast, everybody’s very fit and everybody’s running. So in that way, I think it will be a little bit different from ISL. I cannot say what’s the difference. I will see it hopefully after the first game.”

Recovery from ACL injury

“Yeah, it is very difficult especially when you get injured when you are getting a little bit older. Compared to when you get injured when you are 20 years old, most likely you are recovering much easier from that because your body works differently at that age. So it was a really hard job for me. 

“Also, that was the year when we got our first daughter. So I had the whole first year with the newborn baby and with the injury and with all the recovery things. It’s fair to say that it was very tough. But yes, I have managed to cut over it and I got fit. So everything worked out well.”

Injury update: Joni Kauko is set for a lengthy spell out of action after sustaining a knee injury.Speedy recovery, Joni 💪#ATKMohunBagan #JoyMohunBagan #আমরাসবুজমেরুন pic.twitter.com/8KUpo7z0dQ

— Mohun Bagan Super Giant (@mohunbagansg) November 24, 2022

How important is immediate medical support on standby & are the Indian leagues well equipped with it?

“It is very important to have all the right tools because you never know what’s going to happen. It’s very important to have the doctors, you have the physios who are the first response for the injuries when something happens when things get worse than that. If something else happens, some really bad injury or something else like what happened with Eriksen. You need these kinds of things. 

“With what happened with Christian Eriksen, the fast response from the doctors and what they did was one of those things that probably saved his life. So it is really important to have all those things. I don’t know exactly what they have in India. I know what in my previous team is what they have, the doctors, the physios and all these kinds of things and so far it’s been well for me.”

Thoughts on delay of I-League 2024-25 season

“Yeah, very hard to say what if it’s for the whole Indian football, I’m more thinking about it from obviously from our side and my side and this way I was really expecting the season to start and it was really kind of like it was weird that we didn’t know that when the season is going to start. It’s like you are training and training and then you don’t know what you are like when you’re gonna start. 

“After they prolonged the start, I was disappointed because I knew that okay now we’re gonna have another month of training. We’ve been training for over two months. But then after this, I started thinking that okay now we had five or six days off. I got the chance to go over to Finland. I got the chance to see my family again.”

ALSO READ: Inter Kashi bolster squad by signing goalkeeper Rakshit Dagar

Fitness issues

“Also regarding my own body, when I came back to Mohun Bagan last January, I didn’t have any pre-season. I was out for 11 months and then I jumped straight into the games and started playing straight away. So I didn’t have any proper pre-season.

“Obviously, during the summer break, you can train as much as you want. You can run outside and you can do what you want. But it’s not the same as football training so you cannot prepare the normal pre-season by yourself.”

Joni Kauko also shared his thoughts on whether this delay will affect his team. He opined, “This is maybe a little bit longer than everybody wants but considering my own body, it’s really good for me and I think also for the team. We are a new team, there are new players again. We have more time to connect with all the players and do different things. So I don’t see it as a bad thing for us. “

Message for Mohun Bagan fans and return

“I had some good times there and I don’t know what the future brings. If you ask me after the I-League championship where I’m going to play next season, I’m not going to say I’ll be playing in Inter Kashi. In this way, football is crazy so I never say never.

“I would be privileged to be on the pitch again for Mohun Bagan but I had my time there, it was good. Maybe, you never know, but what I would like to say to the fans is that thank you for all the years so far.

“Thank you for your love and support. I’m still amazed every single day by how much attention and how much love I’m still getting from the fans even though I’m not playing there anymore,” Joni Kauko concluded with a smile on his face.

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