International footballers praise Kasaragod boy’s skills; video goes viral

Kasaragod: The video of Mehroof, a 12-year-old boy belonging to Parappa in Kasaragod, displaying his football skills on a slushy ground has gone viral and grabbed the attention of Canadian international Iain Hume and Dutch star Hans Mulder. In the video, Mehroof is seen dribbling the ball beyond three players much bigger in size than him and passing the ball to a teammate, who nudges the ball into the goalpost.

After the video was shared widely by football fans, it was noticed by Iain Hume, who had earlier played for the Kerala-based team Kerala Blasters. The fans’ group of Kerala Blasters, Manjappada, also shared the video on its various social media accounts. Commenting on Instagram, Hume said that Mehroof should be immediately made part of the team.

Holland football star Hans Mulder, meanwhile, is keen to contact the young football prodigy after being impressed by his skills with the ball.

The video which later went viral was shot when Mehroof played a game of football on a rainy holiday along with friends. He advances with the ball deceiving three defenders who are much taller than him. From near the corner of the opponents’ goalpost, Mehroof passes the ball to his teammate, who scores the goal. The video also shows Mehroof’s team celebrating the goal.

Football fans who watched the video have praised Mehroof for being selfless as he did not show an urge to score the goal himself and had passed the ball to another teammate. Others have said that if Mehroof is given proper coaching, Kerala will gain a great football player. Some viewers have even hailed Mehroof as ‘Kerala’s Messi’.

The video, which was shot by some people who were watching the boys playing, was noticed by others who recognized the skills displayed by Mehroof on the field and shared. The visuals soon had gone viral.