Muhammed Mojawala to the four for Christ Church in inter-school football

Christ Church’s Muhammed Mojawala (left) during the U-17 DSO match against Our Lady of Salvation yesterday. Pic/Atul Kamble

Muhammed Mojawala, 14, of Christ Church HS (Byculla) stole the thunder as inter-school football resumed after a gap of two years following the Covid-19 break. The sturdy Muhammed scored all four goals in his team's 4-0 rout of Our Lady of Salvation HS (Dadar) in a boys U-17 match of the District Sports Organisation (DSO) Mumbai City inter-school tournament at the Mumbai Police ground, Naigaon, on Thursday.

Two goals in each half

Dashing left-winger Muhammed, who is a huge Lionel Messi fan, exhibited plenty of versatility, fine ball control and shooting power, scoring two goals in each half. "It's a great feeling to resume inter-school football. It was quite frustrating and boring to be home throughout the lockdown as I could not play football with my friends since all the grounds were closed. But after the restrictions were relaxed, we began playing on artificial turfs. I have represented my school in U-10 and U-12, but missed out on the U-14 group due to the Covid break, so it's great to have started well for the U-16 team," said Muhammed.

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Dr Antonio DaSilva win 1-0

Earlier, in another match, Nishad Pomendkar, 15, scored the all-important goal in the first half as Dr Antonio DaSilva HS (Dadar) beat Shishuvan School (Matunga) 1-0.

The Dadar side have a new coach in Francis Fernandes, who has previously coached two prominent city outfits, Maharashtra State Police and Central Railway, and skipper Nishad gave full credit to the new boss. "This is a good win for our team, who have been training under a new coach, Francis sir. He taught me a few dribbles and has also worked on improving my shooting and passing," said Nishad, who felt that his team could have scored more goals, but a change in playing surface affected their performance. "This was a mud ground while we have been practising on an artificial turf, so adjusting to this
surface was a bit tricky," added Nishad.

With inputs from Shaun Suvarna