FIFA U-17 World Cup: The story of India's main forward, Abhijit Sarkar and his eye for goal

“Live your life with it. Every night, when you will sleep, this football should be your companion.” the late great Brazilian defender, Carlos Alberto Torres had once advised Abhijit Sarkar, while handing him a red ball. Abhijit, a striker in the current India U-17 squad, had met Carlos during the Calcutta leg of 2014 FIFA World Cup Trophy Tour. He not only took it to heart, rather it inspired him to strengthen another bond – his friendship with goals.

That friendship paid rich dividends recently when Abhijit scored against India U-17s' Italian counterparts in their European exposure tour. Though later it was revealed that this Italian team was only a weak representation of the actual youth squad, Abhijit’s efforts cannot be belittled. Six days later, Abhijit scored again dutifully, this time thrice, against Valmontone City in the group stage of the Lazio Cup. Going by his red-hot form, he seems to be an easy shoo-in in the final eleven. Luis Norton de Matos, the India U-17 head coach, certainly is quite taken up by his ability to get results.

It may be easy for someone to assume that Abhijit with his boatload of talent might have made an easy journey to success. In reality, it is just the contrary. Hailing from a background where his parents still struggle hard for a basic subsistence, his movement could very well have been confined to the 10x12 sq. ft space in Keota Hemanta Basu Colony that he calls home. That said, his moves would always be with a football, no matter what.

Abhijit’s father Haren Sarkar was a stopper worth reckoning. He was said to have enough power to account for the entire opposite contingent. But when Haren’s father died, he had to abandon the game completely. He bought a van-rickshaw and drove it around for someone else to help sell fish at Chawkbazar in Bandel.

By the time Abhijit was 5 years old and took to football, he was struggling to pull in a measly 100-150 INR or so, while his wife, Aloka Sarkar, who works as a cheap-cigarette binder in a local grocery store, then used to bring in 25 INR daily. Given such a situation, to let their son take up a sport seriously would be considered a luxury.

In his heart, Haren wanted his son to continue what he could not, but his means were limited. He couldn’t do much but let the boy be. His hope was losing ground till one day Abhijit’s uncle’s son, Biswajit Sarkar, himself a good striker and a left-back, introduced Abhijit to the Bandel Banichakra Club, Lenin Pally. Biswajit used to practice at the football club. There Abhijit, then about 8, met a kindred spirit in the owner cum coach Ashok Mondal.

A reliable right-out in his playing days, Ashok, could not complete his desired journey. So he was determined to create a team of his own and to give them what he couldn’t achieve. Ashok, a bachelor who is an ex-pen factory worker, drives a Toto and trains a bunch of local boys sometimes up to 50-60 in numbers on his own expense. In fact, he buys boots and kits for his trainees. A breath of relief for Abhijit, who had no means of buying even the cheapest of boots, one must say. And he did utilize the time and opportunity judiciously.

Ashok used to put him through the paces. One day he would practice as a striker, the other day as a right-half or in defence or in midfield as Ashok would do for all of his wards. Abhijit proved to be successful in all his positions thus getting a hang of the all round aspects of the game.

One ability that stood out was his knack for scoring – Abhijit was a good finisher. After 2-3 years of internal training, it was time to put the learning to the test. Abhijit proved successful in the local running tournaments as well, winning Man of Match, Man of Series, Best Striker, even Best Defender awards innumerable times.

During those days, it was Ashok and his utmost benevolence that kept the hope for Abhijit and those of his ilk to carry on with the game as he still does. Though there was no untoward incident yet, Abhijit’s fate hung delicately in the balance. Of course, it would not be long before his inherent talent would take over.

One day, about 4-5 years back, Ashok came to know about the Bengal Trials. A quick call to Paban Das of Salkia Coaching Camp and Abhijit and five of his mates were on their way to Amta on the primary trail. Abhijit, Sudipta Malakar and Sanjeev Mandal made to the next stage to be held at Belgharia. Sanjeev was dropped at the end of the final trial at Kalyani. A proud Ashok wished luck to Abhijit and Sudipta for Goa. After about two years only Abhijit survived from Banichakra Club.

After withstanding all that, Abhijit still had to negotiate the India U-17 Head Coach, Nicolai Adam. The German coach, Adam, typically had a penchant for quick, direct football and Abhijit would mostly get match play towards the end as a substitute.

A change of guard, just seven months back, brought in the present Portuguese coach Matos and it augured well for Abhijit. Recognizing the importance of ball-players like him along Komal Thatal and Rahul Kannoly Praveen he began to feature in the first-team line-up.

Abhijit is most comfortable when he is ruling the attacking third with his dazzling display. Besides ball control and dribbling skills, what sets him apart is his ability to take quick decisions – a rare quality among Indian players. Having imbibed Ashok’s guidance to the fullest, Abhijit is versatile and can play as a winger, a supporting striker or even a defensive midfielder.

Despite his abilities and versatility, there was one grave deficiency- thankfully it too has ironed out. He used to stand barely 5’ above the ground – shorter to his dad by about 2” and his mom by about 5” but ever since he was included in the camp he has had a spurt of growth and now registers about 5’.8’’ – a decent height for his age group. The camp brought a change to his speed as well - initially, he was slower, now he has become much faster.

A die-hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo with dreams of playing for Real Madrid, Abhijit didn’t have much time for recreation during his stint with India U-17s on the team's recent European exposure tour except of course for a visit to the Real Madrid museum. There his feet lingered on in the Real dressing room and his gaze fixed on Ronaldo’s jersey and the Ballon d’Or.

Abhijit feels lucky that among 125 crore people he might get a chance to represent the country. The country, in turn, reciprocates to feel assured that there is an Abhijit to propel their dream forward.