Head Coach, Nelson Sebastian is a happy man. Having coached The Cathedral & John Connon School from Mumbai for the last thirteen years, he’s finally had his Claudio Ranieri moment. His side recently won the finals of Adidas FC Bayern Youth Cup India 2016, an under-16, seven-a-side inter-school football tournament, where more than 200 schools participated. “We didn’t expect this tournament to be a huge success for us.
But we’ve been preparing since the day we were selected to go to Munich. We’re very serious about this competition and I want to get my school at least into the first three positions”, he said.
Nelson realizes stamina will play a key role when his team will lock horns against some of the best sides from U.S.A, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany to name a few.” My priority first is the physical aspect of the game and then the technical part. We’ll be applying the techniques that we’ve worked on here in Munich.
Coaching kids is never an easy task but the manager takes it as a challenge- “It is difficult but you enjoy working with boys of this age group. In the U-16 category, India definitely stands a chance against the international schools. As far as discipline is concerned, these boys are the best”, he exclaimed with confidence.
One of Nelson’s boys is Anshal who plies his trade as a midfielder. The youngster looks forward to winning the competition in Germany and also gave his opinion on Manchester United, his favourite side who haven’t been in the best of forms off late. “I’d like a change of manager first” he said who looks up to none other than Leo Messi for inspiration.
Eight schools from Mumbai, New Delhi(NCR) and Bangalore qualified for the national finals and faced each other for the much-coveted trip to Munich. The Cathedral & John Connon School emerged as champions of the India edition winning the cut-throat competition against Nalanda Public school (Delhi).
They were awarded by Former German World Cup winner and Bayern Munich Legend, Paul Breitner as well as Dave Thomas, Managing Director, Adidas Group India. The players from the winning school team will not only get a chance to participate at the world finals in Munich in May 2016, but will also get to watch a Bundesliga match at the iconic Allianz Arena.
Former German World Cup winner and Bayern Munich Legend, Paul Breitner, said "I have been associated with this tournament earlier as well, and these school kids remind me of my times. FC Bayern Youth Cup India 2016 is an opportunity as well as a platform for these kids to show their talent and establish their career in football. “
