September 8, 2023, Changlimithang Stadium, Thimphu, Bhutan. India is playing Maldives in the first semi-final of the U-16 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Cup. Into the 36th minute of the crucial game, Mohammed Kaif (15), nets a header past the Maldives goalkeeper to bring the score at 2-0 for India.
The Indian colts net a total of eight goals that day against Maldives for a showdown against Bangladesh, the other semi-finalist, for a repeat encore of their 2015 clash (where Bangladesh had got the better of India). This time, the Indian juniors held on to their game in the final on September 10, and routed Bangladesh 2-0 to lift their second title in the U-16 category.
Kaif played a crucial role in the tournament. He kept a clean sheet as a defender, netted a goal in the semi-final, and captained the U-16 Team India in his debut national game.
Though India won the SAFF men’s championship, too, this year, it was the victory in the junior category that has piqued the interest of sports administrators. That’s because this is the clutch of young upcoming talent that will give India its next football stars.
Professional sporting academies and clubs often scout for talent from a very early age for training and grooming. It was through one of such talent hunts that Kaif made his journey from an obscure football field in Rajasthan to the stadium at Thimphu. He was among the 40-odd footballing prodigies selected by Hindustan Zinc’s footballing initiative, Zinc Football, from across India for a full scholarship at the Zinc Football Academy as part of a student-athlete programme in 2018 as a 10-year-old. A student at DAV HZL School at Zawar Mines in Udaipur (the school is located within the football academy), he will appear for his Class X board exams in 2024.
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