How Good Is Mustafa Amini

Like Kewell, Tim Cahill and Mark Schwarzer, Mohammad Mustafa Amini – widely known as “Musti” – hails from Sydney’s west. He played his junior football with Blacktown City, spent time at Westfield Sports High School (whose alumni includes Kewell and Jason Culina), before departing for the Australian Institute of Sport. In 2010 he joined the Central Coast Mariners and following a fantastic display with the Young Socceroos at the Asian Under-19 Youth Championship in October last year (Australia narrowly went down 3-2 to North Korea in the final), he made his A-League debut.

Since joining the Mariners the kid of Algerian and Nicaraguan descent hasn’t looked back, helping Central Coast finish in second place and reach theA-League grand final. Of his rollercoaster 12 months, which has also seen him take part in a Socceroos camp and trial with Borussia Dortmund in Germany, Amini is upbeat. “It’s been great,” he says. “I didn’t really expect anything [at the start of the season]. Arnie’s [Graham Arnold] had the confidence to play me. It’s been good. I’m enjoying the experience.”

Arnold says Amini has developed enormously. “At the start of the season I never imagined he would have played five minutes, let alone 24 games,” he says. “Musti’s developed very quickly. He’s a dream to coach; you can’t give him enough information. He’s a little bit cocky, but all good footballers need to have that.”

Says FFA national technical director Han Berger: “He has a fantastic first touch, great awareness, he can play the killer pass. Those players are very rare in general, especially in Australia. He has a great future if he makes the right choices.”

WHO’S HE LIKE?

Amini’s favourite players have been attacking midfielders such as Arsenal’s Cesc Fabergas and Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard, but the 18-year-old reminds Young Socceroo coach Jan Versleijen of another former Liverpool star, the legendary Finn Jari Litmanen. “He has a little bit of that style of him,” Versleijen says. Arnold agrees, and says Amini mirrors classic Dutch number tens like Wesley Sneijder.

Berger puts Amini in a special class. “In the last World Cup, you see that athletes don’t make a difference, you need match-winners – the creative players in midfield and up front,” Berger says. “He falls into that category. Mustafa is very talented.”

Amini has a massive few years in front of him, with the London Olympics and the Asian Champions League next year and a move to Europe possibly on the cards. The teenager, who speaks three languages fluently, also has one eye on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. “Of course it’s my goal,” he says. “We’ll see what happens.”

Central Coast Mariners- Mustafa Amini
Images: Getty Images

For now he is focusing on the Under-20 World Cup in Colombia next month. “It’s every kid’s dream to go to a World Cup,” Amini says. “I think we can do really well. The boys are all great. We’re just going there to have fun and make Australia proud.”

 – John Davidson