‘It was tough to defeat England at their home’

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For M.P. Jamshad, who hails from Feroke in Kerala, visiting England and watching the Gunners play was once a dream.

He had never thought about going to North London and playing in one of Arsenal’s grounds and that too as part of the Indian team, which was selected by Arsenal coaches.

Jamshad was selected for the Tata Tea U-15 team from India for the Arsenal International Soccer Festival held at London last month. In the tourney final, the Indian team beat the England team and lifted the cup for the first time.

Jamshad, who is now a plus one student of Farook Higher Secondary School, was the only Malayali in the team and was the first player from Kozhikode to take part in the tournament.

“Every aspect of the game was different from what I have learned or experienced in India. It took some time for the team to cope with the situation. However, we did our best to defeat other teams,” says an excited Jamshad when asked about his experience in London.

Jamshad played in the midfield position against four countries — South Africa, USA, England and Canada — in the tournament.

The 15-year-old was selected from 30 boys who appeared in the final round of the Arsenal-Tata Tea Jaagore Soccer Stars Tournament.

The tournament had kicked off on December 14, 2010 and was held across 15 cities in India and a national finals in Shillong in April 2011.

Several coaches including Jamshid Nassiri (former Mohammedan Sporting, East Bengal player and former national coach), Brahmanand Shankwalkar (Arjuna awardee, former India team captain and goalkeeper) and Premanth Philip (former India defender and former player of East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting) selected the players from each cities.

After the selection, a 10-day camp was held in Kolkata under Arsenal coaches Andrew Douglas and Jermaine Wynte.

¨The training camp was really helpful as we got an opportunity to gel with the co-players. Several lessons on English football were also taught at the camp. It was a nice experience in the camp. After the camp, we went for the tournament in London,¨ he said.

Asked about the most memorable moment at Arsenal FC, he said, “During the stay at London, we got an opportunity to watch the Emirates Cup between Arsenal FC and Boca Juniors FC. I saw the whole of the Arsenal team and their play. It was great to watch the players, whom I thought I would never see in my life time.”

Jamshad had training sessions in London prior to the matches and learnt about the speed game and the one-touch play of the English.

“It was tough to defeat England at their home ground. However, we held our nerves and also we got the much-needed support from the spectators,” he says.

The midfielder, who admires the play of Lionel Messi, is happy with the opportunity and the international exposure he has received so far.