ADELAIDE United midfielder Osama Malik has taken teammate Awer Mabil under his wing, saying he sees plenty of hope for the future in the Reds rising star.
Both players share Sudanese heritage and Malik has singled out the teenager, who has made three senior appearances for Adelaide this campaign, as one to watch.
The 17-year-old attacker lived in Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp until arriving in Australia in 2006 and is one of the youngest players to line-up for the Reds senior team which currently sits third on the league table.
Malik says the spotlight hasn’t spoilt the natural wide speedster who remains level-headed.
“Awer is someone I like to take under my wing – he’s a really good kid with a very bright future ahead of him,” he said.
“We’re very different players but I really like to talk with him. He’s got interesting stories from where he grew up. He didn’t have the easiest childhood and that’s why it’s great to see him doing really well.”
But Malik says football still has a long way to go to tap the rich vein of talent that runs through the nation’s African communities.
“We have a lot of Sudanese kids in Adelaide,” he added.
“Unfortunately for whatever reason, they get caught up in other things, but I wish they’d just keep to playing sport or studying because they’ve got a lot of potential there.
“They’re great kids. My father was from Sudan – he’s the best man that I’ve ever met so I know they’ve got a lot to offer.
“Sometimes they get put in a bad light in the media because there are a few problems there but on the whole they’re a great bunch of kids.”
Malik, who is studying sound engineering this year and whose life-after-football plans include a lounge bar in Adelaide featuring jazz, soul and “a little hip-hop,” stops short of calling himself a role model.
But he understands there may be some youngsters who look up to him and he hopes it plays dividends for football in the long run.
“If we could get some of them playing soccer we’d get a lot more African kids coming up through the A-League and maybe playing for Australia one day,” he said.
On the personal front it’s been a season of ups and downs for the 22-year-old - achieving a provisional call-up from Socceroos coach Holger Osieck for the East Asian Cup qualifier only to be culled from the final squad.
Returning to Hindmarsh, he fell out of favour with former coach John Kosmina but has worked his way back into the team under new mentor Michael “Micky” Valkanis.
There were positives to take from his time on the sidelines.
“That was probably the hardest thing but in some ways it was good because it gave me time to reflect on the way I was going about the game and I think I’m a better person for having that experience,” he said.
The Reds have all but signed off on their place in the finals series but still face a tough five-game run-in against four teams locked in a desperate fight for a playoff berth, starting with Brisbane Roar on Saturday.
The player believes it could be just what the Reds need to prepare for a tilt at the Holy Grail which has so far eluded them.
Malik added: “Micky has basically just been saying, look we’re five games until the end of the season and then, potentially, three games from winning a grand final.
“At the end of the day it’s up to us. We can achieve something really significant if we really want to and we’re prepared to work for each other.
“It would be great to be one of the players in an Adelaide United championship team. It’s something we’re striving for but obviously it doesn’t come easily. There’s a lot of hard work involved before that.”
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