After guiding his side to the Airtel Rising Stars (ARS) U17 tournament West Nile regional qualifiers championship (Boys) title last weekend in Lira, Koboko Boys FC skipper Kassim Talib believes he can live to see his dream of playing for Uganda Cranes and a top professional club abroad.
The teenage goal keeper, who draws inspiration from Cranes captain and goal keeper Denis Onyango as well as Bayern Munich captain Manuel Neuer, was named the best goal keeper in the regional championship.
The 16-year old was a surreal for Koboko Boys and was one of the main reasons that they won the regional title by beating Bright Light 1-0 in the highly contested final at UTC grounds, Lira.
As one of the best young goalkeepers in this year’s ARS tournament, if not the country, Talib is certainly a brilliant player for the country to look up to, and looks to have the top class personality to match his immense footballing ability as he looks forward to play for his favorite KCCA FC in future.
“I want to be like Onyango (Denis) and he is my role model. He is a winning captain and a good leader. At the international scene, I look at Bayern Munich and Germany goal keeper Manuel Neuer. He plays with both legs and his game reading is incredible. Manchester City’s Ederson style of play and confidence is also amazing,” noted Talib, who hailed Airtel-Uganda for giving young players especially from upcountry chance to expose their talents.
The S.3 student at Day Star secondary school was taking part in his second regional ARS championship and was chosen on the squad to represent the region at the nationals for the first time.
A squad of 26 players from only three teams; Bright Light, Koboko Boys and FC Inter from Moyo were selected to represent West Nile at the national finals due early next month in Kampala.
The next regional qualifiers of the 8th edition are on this weekend in Masindi with Kitara and Western region championships.The regional winners take home Shs1.5m each while the runners up got Shs1m.
The national champions have Shs7m at stake while the runners up have Shs5m. As the exclusive tournament sponsors, Airtel-Uganda also gives out football equipment to five schools from Northern and West Nile region as part of this year’s campaign.
