He stayed awake whole night watching Argentina and his idol Lionel Messi come up close in the World Cup final less than a week ago. But it inspired 14-year-old Mithilesh Kasare to fire in two goals in the Mumbai City finale of Bajaj Allianz Junior football camp at the MSSA ground at Azad Maidan here on Saturday.
The effort took him to the West Zone finals of the event where he will play alongwith 16 others kids chosen to represent Mumbai.
These 16 kids will play against the teams from Pune and Goa (selected through the same process). The best player in the West will represent the zone and join four others from the rest of the country for a five-day football camp at the Allianz Arena stadium home of Bayern Munich, the German and European giants.
The process started across schools in Mumbai where the best players were pooled in. Matches were conducted over the past two days which led to the final being played amongst the best 26.
Kasare said he knew he had a long way to go, but now he is just a few steps away from living the dream.
"All that I wanted was to see is Messi lift the golden trophy. That didn't happen and I know there might not be a next time for him. This was all the motivation I needed. Here was an opportunity in front of me and I didn't let it go waste," said the ninth standard kid from Don Bosco (Borivli).
His instincts in front of goal were noticed by the chief selectors making him one of the first names on the selection sheet.
"Mithilesh possesses the exact traits one needs as a striker. Being at the right place at the right time is the basic quality one needs and with his well-timed goals, he did just that," said Floyd Pinto, chief selector of the Mumbai leg.
It's a bittersweet moment for Kasare as he knows it's a German club that he'll be training at should he go all the way.
"That does not matter. It'll be a dream come true for me. Like Messi, I need to better my performances at the big stage. The West Zone finals in Pune next week is my true test," said the die-hard fan of Manchester United and Barcelona.
Winners of the Mumbai City finale: Kushagra Tandel, Ehtesham Mujawar, Khan Kashif, Edwin Aninkal, Rahul Nair, Pathan Anees, Ankit Nagar, Kunal Sonawane, Ansari Osama, Vishal Natraj, Ansari Afrat, Manpreet Singh, Darshan Baria, Khahif Ansari, Philip Nair, Mithilesh Kasare
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