Kolkata: The buzz in Turku, the Finnish city Joni Kauko calls home, was that he would return to Inter Turku, his boyhood club one where he began his professional career in 2007. Instead, the central midfielder so influential in Mohun Bagan Super Giant’s revival last season finds himself down a division at Inter Kashi in I-League.

“Life’s like that,” said Kauko. It was what Antonio Lopez Habas, Inter Kashi’s coach this term, said as well, speaking separately.

Kauko and Habas shored up Mohun Bagan when all seemed lost. Last January, they had a new coach in Habas after a run of poor results in the Indian Super League (ISL) got Juan Ferrando the boot. One of the first things, Habas, ISL’s most successful coach with two titles, a league shield and two final appearances, did was rehabilitate Kauko. For 11 months prior to that Kauko was recovering from injury. “I got back to first team football with little preparation,” said the Finland international who played in the 2021 European championship.

Having ended 2023 with three successive defeats in ISL and begun the year with an early exit from the Super Cup, Mohun Bagan, under Habas, were unbeaten in eight matches seven of them wins. Signed in place of Hugo Boumous, Kauko’s leadership qualities, intelligent runs and defensive abilities were crucial to that. Mohun Bagan won the league shield, their first, beating Mumbai City at home but lost the cup final to the same team.

Both expected another season at Mohun Bagan. “My last morning at Mohun Bagan (after ISL cup final), I had a promise to sign a new contract but after that during one month, no contact,” said Habas. “You can say I was a little disappointed but that’s football for you. You shake hands and move on,” said Kauko.

For Habas, there was also the disappointment of not getting the India job. “There too in the last moment, no… I felt liked being killed two times… But no regrets.”

So Inter Kashi it was for both. A club birthed in 2023 and which finished fourth in I-League last season. Given the kind of roster they have built this term, the odds would be low on them winning the I-League and making the ISL in 25-26. “We have a strong side, so have a fair chance,” said Serbian central midfielder Nikola Stojanovic.

For Habas, who had spoken of wanting to retire in India when he was at Mohun Bagan, this is an interesting project. One he took up because Prithvijit Das, an Inter Kashi official he knew from his time at ATK in 2014, reached out. “We have been friends a long time,” said Habas, 67.

One of the first things Habas did was get Kauko. Getting a player who could have joined an ISL club and has played in Finland and Germany to play in the Indian second division was a coup. Equal to the kind of coup Inter Kashi, a club from Uttar Pradesh who will for the second successive season play in West Bengal because of the absence of infrastructure, pulled off in getting Habas.

“Maybe because we have one relationship which to him was more than the money. I had signed Kauko for another club,” said Habas. “He convinced me of the project,” said Kauko.

Kauko, 34, is a player in the Borja Fernandez mould. In a career that had him play 222 matches in La Liga, one that began at Real Madrid, Fernandez helped ATK win two of the first three ISL seasons. “For me, Borja was the best central mid in ISL history,” said Habas, speaking after the Inter Kashi media day here on Saturday.

“All the time, I would talk to my staff and say we need a player similar to Borja. You remember one player, Agus (former ATK defender Agustine García Iniguez)? He told me, I know one player like that. He played with me in Denmark. That was Joni. Maybe you can talk with him. And Joni Kauko said “okay,” said Habas. That is how Kauko came to India in 2021.

Kauko, Habas said, can be an example for Kashi’s young players. “Joni has international experience, played European championship. The most important quality for Joni is his humility. He doesn’t have a big ego. He is like one of the lads. And this is very important for young players.”

By the time I-League begins, on November 22, when Inter Kashi hosts SC Bengaluru they would have been training for nearly three months. For Habas, ideal pre-season would be between 45-50 days but “you have to improvise and not give excuses.” For Kauko, it feels like a blessing in disguise, especially after being parachuted into ISL last season. What unites them, coach and player, is that both cannot wait for the season to begin.

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