NEROCA FC's next target is I-League: Lalit Thapa
Source: The Sangai Express

New Delhi, September 13 2016: NEROCA FC made history on Sunday by becoming the first team from the North East region of the country to play in the final of the prestigious Durand Cup football tournament.

Making their debut at the 128th edition of the Asia's oldest football tournament, they lost 5-6 on penalties to Army Green in the summit clash after playing out a goalless 120 minutes, including thirty minutes of extra-time, at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi.

Footballers from Manipur have featured in almost all the major clubs of the country.

However, it was only in 2016 that NEROCA became the first club from the state to participate in the Durand Cup in which they had a memorable campaign.

NEROCA were undefeated in the tournament during the league stages and defeated two I-League teams � DSK Shivajians in the semi-final and Aizawl FC in group stage, en route to the final. TOI Sports caught up with NEROCA's skipper and goalkeeper, Lalit Thapa, who was with FC Pune City in the last season of the Indian Super League, after the final.

Excerpts: .

Tell us about the Durand Cup campaign .

It was a great exposure for the team.

We made people know that a club named 'NEROCA' from Manipur is present in the national scene.

And it was huge for the club because we were making our debut in the tournament.

I have played the Durand before with bigger clubs like Churchill Brothers and it was not regarded as a big stage for them.

But for NEROCA, it was the biggest of the lot.

The club owners and patrons have come all out to make it a memorable one.

They distributed free team jerseys to fans.

I have never seen such things in more than ten years of my professional life in India except the Indian Super League.

Did you expect the kind of crowd support the team got in Delhi?
We got huge support from the fans.

Fans from Manipur and other North-Eastern states have come out in large numbers to support us and make us feel like playing at home.

With their support, we reached the final.

We are newcomers in the tournament, with plenty of inexperienced players and some experienced ones.

Fans ensured that the players feel at home and play their natural game.

Tell us about the final match against the Army side�
We dominated the final match but somehow failed to convert the attacks into goals during the regulation time.

And penalty shootouts have become our Achilles heel, as we had lost three-four shootouts in the last few months.

Now, we even dread discussing about penalties during the team meetings.

On Sunday too we were determined to finish off the contest during the normal play but couldn't. You have returned to where you started.

What changes you have observed and what is still lacking?
There are few improvements in the system in the last one decade or so.

NEROCA is putting up some good facilities but what we lacked is professional discipline.

Even today, practice sessions are not organized systematically and considered more or less optional.

Clubs have even skipped sessions because of rain.

Players too skip practice sessions for personal reasons, and once an excuse is accepted they came back with another.

I haven't seen such a mindset during my professional career.

We used to dread about skipping even a single session.

We feel that we will fall behind others if we skip the sessions.

In Manipur, clubs are not strict in organising such sessions which result in indiscipline among the players.

What next for NEROCA FC?
We failed to qualify for I-League this year, finishing third in the second-tier.

So the next target for NEROCA is to play in the I-League next year.

We have signed some experienced players, like Sushil Kumar Singh, Subhash Singh, Bisheshwor Singh, to make the squad strong enough to qualify for the I-League from the second division.

We are determined to take the club to the next level.

What is the reason behind the emergence of North-Eastern clubs in the national scene?
North-Eastern states like Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya and Assam have at least four-five players in almost all the major clubs of the country.

So people there have now decided to harness the talent pool themselves and are creating their own clubs to give opportunities to the local talents.

That's the reason why we see more and more clubs from NE coming up in the national scenes in the recent years.

Few of them have featured in the I-League and we are confident of taking NEROCA there.

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