Why 13-year-old Suresh Singh is dreaming of the U-17 World Cup

Javier Hernandez, Jack Wilshere, Fernando Torres, Gérard Piqué, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Lionel Messi and Robinho have all played in the Nike Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) at one point in their careers and went on to wear their nations colours in a major football tournament.

And if India’s Suresh Singh, who was adjudged the player of the tournament in the competition’s India leg, goes on to wear the India jersey in the 2017 U-17 World Cup, it will be a fine story to tell.

Suresh’s performances in the MUPC have not gone unnoticed by AIFF’s (All India Football Federation) scouts after the 13-year-old got called up for a trial for the Under-14 Indian football team in Goa — and being born in the year 2000, he qualifies to make the U-17 team when the World Cup comes to India three years later.

It’s no surprise that Suresh was discovered at the MUPC — a global youth football tournament which started only in Europe in 1993 and was expanded to Asia a year later. It is being conducted under the aegis of the AIFF in India for nine years now — giving the country’s Under-15s a chance to impress and get noticed outside of the usual national tournaments.

Suresh’s six goals helped his Birchandra Memorial Sporting Club - Manipur (BMSC) win the India leg of the MUPC and he will travel with the team to Thailand for the regional finals. He was also adjudged the tournament’s best player. If BMSC win in Thailand, they get a spot in the Premier Cup World Finals whose finals take place at Old Trafford.

In fact, such is the demand for Suresh after the award that his coach Ibomcha Singh had to fight to keep him in Manipur after an offer from the Tata Football Academy threatened to take him away: “I’ve trained him from his foundation years,” says Ibomcha, “and now he’s ready.”

Suresh himself is pretty focussed. The right-winger, whose favourite player is Cristiano Ronaldo, said that he’s just concentrating on making it to Manchester and is confident BMSC will make it this time (they lost in the knockouts last year): “I’m not just satisfied with winning the best player award. I want to set last year right. This time I’m sure we’ll win.”

Suresh, to the envy of many kids in India, is born in 2000 — which makes him eligible for the U-17 World Cup to be held in India in 2017. Thankfully, his parents are fully supportive of his choice to make a career out of football and a schedule which requires him to train for four hours in a day: “My typical day would be two hours training in the morning, then school and then two more hours training in the evening.” He also squeezes in extra tuition classes somewhere in there.

So does this affect his academic performance? “I’m a good student, I get about 60-70% in my results. My parents hope I can play in the 2017 World Cup. They ask me to play – study also – but play more. I want to be a famous Indian player,” he quips.

And for that to happen, he knows that he cannot remain in India: “I want to play abroad, England hopefully. The facilities are better.” He does follow the I-League though, and his favourite team is Churchill Brothers.

It’s not a surprise BMSC are doing so well with their youth squad. Suresh tells us that the academy has separate coaches for outfield players and goalkeepers (believe it or not, very few academies make sure this is the case) and their coach Ibomcha Singh mixes the training up: “He changes the drills everyday. There’s a compulsory 30-minute warm-up followed by skills. We don’t play too many matches either.”

Suresh is now in Goa training at an AIFF camp — and if the federation’s eye is sharp — we could well see him don an India shirt very soon.

Suresh Singh factfile

DOB: 7 August, 2000 Height: 5'5" Weight: 54 kgs Position: Right-wing