MP Sakeer: On the rise
A football match is more often than not decided by the prowess of the men who occupy the central midfield area. And the greatest footballers have been brilliant creators of goalscoring opportunities. With Indian football often lacking that creative midfielder who can deliver opportunities for fellow players from the middle third of the field, the young Viva Kerala captain MP Sakeer holds out plenty of promise as a classical playmaker with the ability to set the pace of the game.
Composed on the ball, the 23-year old has a sublime touch and the imagination to deliver the killer pass. Quick on either foot, he has ample time on his hands, or legs rather, to size up the situation and find the best possible solution. He probably sees angles on the pitch that no other player on the field does, for when he passes, the ball almost always finds the target. “I like to pass,” he says. “I believe a good footballer should always look for a better placed player to score goals.”
Following top class football on television from childhood, Sakeer picked up the tricks of the game analysing the style and technique of midfield maestros such as Frenchmen Zinedine Zidane and Claude Makelele and England’s Frank Lampard. “I have learned from watching how the best players in the world play,” he says. “I watch closely any player who plays in the central midfield position.” Among Indians, captain Bhaichung Bhutia and Climax Lawrence are his favourites.
Talk to him, and the most impressive thing that strikes you is the lad’s supreme conviction that his mission in life is to perform on the football field. “I can do it,” he says. And it’s not just talk. He substantiates his belief by taking on players with greater physical presence, especially the muscular Africans, head on and comes away winning the ball cleanly. A smooth dribbler, Sakeer is not averse to the well-timed tackle either. “I am ready to play defensively for the team,” he says. “But my thinking is always positive, to find ways to score goals.”
Experts agree that he is the best young player in Kerala at the moment. “He is a great schemer,” says former international MM Najeeb, who coached a young Sakeer with the State Bank of Travancore, Thiruvananthapuram a couple of years ago. “He is technically very good and fast in identifying gaps.” Calling him a rare player in Indian football, Najeeb feels Sakeer “is definitely on course to finding a place in the Indian team.”
Sakeer himself can’t wait to play for the country. “I cry when I think that I am still not part of the national team,” he says passionately. “I am prepared to go through any hardship to play for India.”
In fact, he has had to fight his disapproving family to pursue his dreams in football. “My parents and other relatives did not want me to take up football as a career. But I told them that the day will come when I become a successful player,” he recalls.
Crediting the Viva coach A M Sreedharan for bringing out the best in him, Sakeer says, “I owe deeply to Sreedharan Sir for shaping my game as a playmaker.” The other influence on the ambitious youngster’s career has been C Jabir, the former player, who had pointed Sakeer out to Sreedharan.
Former international goalkeeper and the Kerala coach in the last Santhosh Trophy championship earlier this year, where Sakeer made his debut, K P Sethumadhavan feels he is the sort of player India needs. “He is destined to be a star in Indian Football if the game does not get to his head,” he says. “Sakeer holds the ball brilliantly in midfield and his distribution is superb. He has a great sense of positioning and also has a strong surprise shot from long range.” Though the Viva have struggled to get points in the I-League, the playmaker has been in superb touch splitting defences at will with his quick and incisive passing. Even as the forwards missed sitters in their losing efforts in the first three matches, Sakeer had stood out dominating the midfield with his sublime sense of positioning and vision.
However, the youngster is yet to display his skill in front of the two teams who matter most in Indian football. The midfielder missed Viva’s away game against Kolkata giants Mohun Bagan on October 12 due to fever and also the home games against East Bengal on November 2 after picking up his second yellow card in the league in the previous game against Sporting, Goa.
But the clubs that have seen Sakeer’s prowess — Goans, Churchill Brothers and Salgaocar, along with the current league leaders Chirag United, Kolkata — have wasted no time playing their cards to net the gifted footballer. Against these opponents, he had conducted the show from the middle of the park leaving more experienced midfielders sulking in his shadow. A native of Areekode in Malappuram district, Sakeer had emerged as Kerala’s brightest young player after guiding Viva Kerala through the successful second division national campaign last season, paving the way for the club’s entry into the I-League. The club captaincy came as a reward this season.
Viva coach Sreedharan — who trained such accomplished internationals as I M Vijayan, C V Pappachan, U Sharaf Ali and the late V P Sathyan during their formative years with the Kerala Police team — has no doubt that the latest talent to have flourished in his care is cut out for greater things in football. “He is good enough to play for India,” he says emphatically.
Perhaps, the disappointment of not making the grade as of now will inspire him to further improve his quality, which is so required in the Indian football team’s central midfield.
Article by Krishnakumar KH for Indian Express
Source:ExpressBuzz.com
