Yohaan Britto is one of the most exciting young talents on the Mumbai inter-school football scene and he is cemented that status with his terrific run at the MSSA Inter-School football championship.
Although his school St Stanislaus, Bandra eventually lost to Don Bosco, Matunga in the final, the 14-year-old lad ensured he was the highest goalscorer in the tournament with a tally of seven goals.
The striker, who is currently busy with the Maharashtra U-16 camp for the Nationals to be held in Odisha, caught up with the Free Press Journal for an exclusive chat at the Cooperage to speak about the MSSA, his footballing journey so far and his dreams and aspirations etc.
Talking about the MSSA championship, Yohaan felt he had a great outing and it was team-work ultimately.
"The tournament went very well. It was the assists that helped me score so many goals and especially from my team-mate Elijah Fernandez. The toughest match was against Bombay Scottish, Mahim."
The young lad was although disappointed that he had to miss the final after being selected for the state team camp.
"Missing the final was very sad. I requested my coach, but since I was playing for Maharashtra and the camp was there I couldn't play. I missed my team and was sad at home."
Yohaan also delved a little on what went wrong for his team in the summit clash.
"The finishing went wrong in the final and that was lacking and hurt our chances. My friends told me since I wasn't there,'' he added.
Going into the learnings of the tournament, Yohaan felt there were quite a few.
"Teamwork is the main thing, better communication, how to play on mud ground, the control and the fact that we play tougher opponents and we can get better at it."
Young Yohaan was inspired to play football by watching the ex-Real Madrid and Manchester United legend Cristiano Ronaldo on screen while very young.
"When I was five, I saw Cristiano Ronaldo play and felt it was very interesting to watch and I got hooked to the sport. He used to play so good. I started playing in the school and also training started from there.''
Yohaan joined the Lemon Brick Sports Club in Bandra at the age of 11 and then moved on to India Rush at 13 with whom he is still associated with.
Sachin Panchal, who is now with Bombay Scottish, was his first coach.
Talking about the impending U-16 Nationals in Odisha, Yohaan felt the Maharashtra team have a good chance of making an impression despite being in a tough group.
"We have Mizoram, Jharkhand and Karnataka in our group and it is the toughest group,'' he added.
"We should go there and beat everyone and 10 of us should get selected for the Indian U-16 camp. We are in the toughest group, a tier-1 group."
The Bandra boy is also a great admirer of Indian skipper Sunil Chhetri.
"I like Sunil Chhetri's mentality. Now people are getting into football and supporting India because of Sunil Chhetri. Lot of youngsters are looking up to him and starting their footballing journey in India''
A big factor in the success of any sportsperson at any level is support from the family and Yohaan has received that in abundance.
"Family is a big support system. My father and mother are both very supportive and my brother also. They want me to do well and my father wants to see me playing for India. Actually, my father wanted my elder brother to play but he couldn't play much but now I want to make my father proud,'' Yohan signed off.
