Sumit Thapa left Viva squad in December to join Chittaranjan Locomotive Works (CLW) which is an affliate/subsidiary of the Indian Railways. But he still follows Viva at I-League and believe they are a force to reckon with.
Sumit joined Viva last year from HAL after playing for Air India and JCT. When Viva takes on JCT at home in their next match, Sumit believes that the home lads have everything in them to grab all three points.
Speaking to FootballKerala Sumit says, "All the players in the team are very good. They can fight any team in India. Just need to make some tactical changes. We need to have a different strategy for each team".
He believes that the current position in I-League doesn't justify and agrees that the team would have missed great opportunities to get some points against the front runners like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Dempo. "Against Dempo in Goa, we were leading by 1 goal till 70 mins and within 20 mins, we conceded 3 goals", remembers the Delhi-ite
Presently training for CLW, Sumit is happy with his easy schedule. "Morning mein office jao, attendance lagao, then chutty .. evening practice karo with friends". He says life is better as Viva had some strict rules and restricted the players from hanging out with friends, movies and even going home.
He looks forward to return to the professional league next season and wishes Viva the very best for their next match against his former side JCT.
From the archive. First published on footballkerala.com on Monday 11 January 2010, restored from the site's 2012 database. Text as originally published.