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Reuben Joe Joseph
Reuben Joe Joseph

WEEKEND SPECIAL

Star watch: England and Man United’s new Boy Wonder

Gomes-in-practice5 Angel Gomes gestures during practice at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata | Salil Bera

Duncan Edwards is considered by many, mostly Manchester United fans, to have been the greatest player who ever lived. If that is new to you, then there is one thing you ought to know before you let fly at the audacity of these theorists—Football’s original “Boy Wonder” tragically died, aged 22, in the Munich air crash of 1958. It cruelly cut short a career that the bygone football world was eagerly looking forward to.

Among other things, Edwards held the record for being Manchester United’s youngest first-team debutant at 16 years of age. Over 60 years later, in May 2017, another United academy product, Angel Gomes, became the youngest player since Edwards to make his debut for the first team. Not in bad company, is he?

The 16-year-old attacking midfielder came on as a substitute in United’s final Premier League game of the 2016-17 season against Crystal Palace. Incidentally, Gomes replaced the club’s all-time top scorer Wayne Rooney, which happened to be the latter’s last PL game for United. The signs are everywhere for this teenager.

Gomes is one of England’s stars at the ongoing FIFA U-17 World Cup. In his first game, he came on in the second half against Chile, with the team already leading 3-0 thanks to the brilliance of another prodigy Jadon Sancho. 

Gomes got to take a free kick after coming on and stepped up to the task. Like an expert, he swung the dead ball over and around the wall to beat the goalkeeper. With that goal and the manner in which he terrorised the Chilean defence thereafter, it would have not been an exaggeration to mistake him for an actual England senior player.

He also featured as a second-half substitute in England’s second game, against Mexico, although the timing was bad. Gomes attempted to run at the Mexico defenders, but the North Americans were more intent on charging on the England goal. The Mexicans desperately needed an equaliser with the scoreline at 3-2 in England’s favour.

It remains a mystery why England coach Steven Cooper has not started Gomes in the two games, and he refuses to explain the rationale behind the decision. “We have 21 players and they are all good enough to start,” Cooper has said in at least three pressers.

The situation is similar to that of the Indian U-17 team, where questions of winger Komal Thatal’s bizarre absence from India’s second and third games were angrily shot down by the Indian coach. Thatal was the only bright spark among India’s outfield players in the first game.

angel-gomes-1 (File) Angel Gomes | Salil Bera

“I think I had an impact on the game,” Gomes told me after the game. “The conditions were tough but we coped well. The support here [in Kolkata] has been great,” he said, refusing to dive into the details.

Sancho and Gomes, the two biggest prospects of this England team, are best friends and roommates for this tour. The two boys from Manchester (Sancho recently moved from Man City to Borussia Dortmund) are inseparable, even at training sessions.

Standing face-to-face with Gomes, I noticed how short he is. I later find out that all of 5’5”, he is the shortest player in the England squad. He uses his low centre of gravity to his benefit and slaloms his way around taller opponents, with a feign or a bit of trickery.

Gomes had joined the Manchester United academy at the age of six. He went on to climb the ladder, which culminated in him winning United’s prestigious Jimmy Murphy Youth Team Player of the Year award last season. He is also the first millennial to play for the United first team.

Brazil’s Ronaldinho was so enthralled by Gomes’ performances and his United senior debut that he sent a video message to the boy, which was posted on Instagram by Gomes. The 2002 World Cup legend congratulated him and wished him the best.

He has donned the captain’s armband for the national U-16s and U-17s sides on several occasions, showing that he also possessed leadership qualities. He, along with six other players, also visited a school in Kolkata, where he shared some tips to the local boys, signed autographs and seemed to have a good time interacting with the other kids.

With England through to the round of 16, and Sancho likely to leave for Dortmund, Gomes could have a bigger role to play in the team in the knockout stages.

England’s record at World Cups has been a mixed bag. There’s the senior team that has been an utter disappointment in the last two decades, and the butt of all jokes. Then there are the junior teams which have been nothing short of spectacular in the last few months. 

It would be premature to say this, but given the team’s current form, this could be their best opportunity to bag a title they have never come close to winning before. I wonder if coach Cooper has been reserving his pocket-sized assassin for the best.

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