The story of how a Tajik boy got into the Russian Dynamo team and became one of the best young football players in Moscow.
Source: Sputnik Tajikistan.
Muhammad Yusuf Shukhiev, a 9-year-old Tajik boy, has become one of the hopes of the Moscow football club Dynamo.
But his path to the field of one of the strongest Russian teams cannot be called smooth.
When the boy was 1.5 years old, his parents divorced. As a result, the child was sent from the Jaloliddin Rumi district of Khatlon region of Tajikistan to Obninsk, Russia, where his migrant father and grandfather worked as construction workers. Since then, his grandmother has taken up raising Muhammad.
About how the boy got into the Russian team and why he is considered one of the best young players - in an interview with Sputnik Tajikistan.
FIRST SUCCESSES
According to Chinigul Shukhieva, the 62-year-old grandmother of the young athlete, her grandson had a special relationship with football since childhood.
“Muhammad’s first “ball” was a plastic bottle. He was 2 years and 8 months old when we brought him to the “Junior” team in Obninsk. After the first hit, the coaches took him to FC,” the woman said.
The boy inherited his love for this sport from his relatives: everyone in the Shukhiev family is interested in football, and Muhammad’s father and grandfather also played, but not at a professional level.
“It seems to me that Muhammad has a very different, special attitude towards football. I raised five children, and I have several great-grandchildren, but he is not like any of them. His behavior, speech, and manners are different from others,” - Shukhieva said.
GRANDMOTHER-COACH
When Muhammad was almost 3.5 years old, he first went with the Obninsk “Junior” to a tournament in Moscow. Then FC took first place, and the boy was recognized as the best player in the competition.
“And this happened every year! We did not return from Moscow empty-handed. He won titles - the best player, striker, midfielder, or valuable player, and his team won tournaments,” Shukhieva said.
At the same time, Chinigul is not just Muhammad’s grandmother - she is also the boy’s main coach, who takes care of the child, in addition to professional coaches, and even a personal doctor. This is a very unusual job for a Tajik woman.
"We don't just watch and do some basic exercises. We have plastic training chips and 10-15 balls at home. Every morning I say prayer, take chips and ball, and by 7 o'clock we go to the stadium. I speak in Tajik, he speaks Russian, but we understand each other perfectly,” she shares with Sputnik Tajikistan.
After training and games, Chinigul treats his grandson’s wounds and bruises using ancient Tajik methods.
The woman is present at all of Muhammad’s training and tournaments, so she often hears the phrase from coaches and relatives of his football teammates: “Muhammad Yusuf’s grandmother is the mascot of our team.”
“I like [the people of Russia]. No one has ever offended me; on the contrary, they respect me very much. I get to know the parents of other players, and we quickly find a common language, because we all have something in common. We root for our children together and together we share each other’s sorrows and joys,” says Shukhieva.
THE WAY TO "DYNAMO"
In September 2021, Muhammad decided to try out for FC Dynamo Moscow, one of the largest football teams in Russia. The boy’s talent captivated the capital’s coaches so much that he was immediately accepted into the team.
“Due to the fact that Muhammad moved to Dynamo from Impulse Obninsk, all his teammates opposed the coach. As a result, the children’s parents managed to fire him and hire a new one,” shares Muhammad’s father Firdavs Shukhiev.
According to the man, for about 1.5 years the boy and his grandmother had to travel to Moscow every day - which is 120 km of road.
“We didn’t have enough money to rent an apartment, so in the winter, at -20 degrees, they went to classes by train. This year we rented an apartment for Muhammad and my mother. Our family is ready to do anything for Muhammad. We are proud of him,” - says Firdavs.
As he clarified, since the start of his football career, his son has taken part in 28 tournaments, won about 200 medals, and received 15 certificates of honor and diplomas.
The last award was received in May of this year at the All-Russian children's tournament "Memorial of Georgy Aleksandrovich Yartsev" among football players no older than 2014. Muhammad's Dynamo team took first place, and the boy himself was named the best player of the tournament.
In total, Dynamo won 7 cups with Muhammad, and at the moment he is considered the best player of the U-9 team.
"YUSUF STYLE"
Despite such a young age, Muhammad has already developed his style of playing football. The main thing, as the boy notes, is to think quickly and analyze the situation on the field.
“When I receive the ball, I always raise my head, because first you need to look and evaluate where the zone is open. You need to think quickly to get around the opponent, make some kind of feint, shoot, and score a goal. The most important thing is not to lose the ball. For me "I have my style, but sometimes I play differently. I always analyze quickly, so I score a lot. For example, at the recent Kimberley tournament in Moscow, I scored 17 goals in 12 games," he shares.
Of the famous football players, Muhammad likes the Portuguese athlete, captain of the Saudi club Al-Nasr, Cristiano Ronaldo.
“He has good shots, speed. He runs like a rocket, probably even faster than a rocket! He is very fast. He thinks quickly, hits well. I remember his goal from the center of the field,” says the young football player.
But the boy does not like the playing style of the Argentine football player and captain of the MLS Inter Miami club Lionel Messi, and this is all because of the peculiarities of the strikes, and not any special feints.
"Messi mainly shoots with his left foot, which is tricky. If you shoot with your left foot into the right corner, the goalkeeper will rush to the left. That's why the left foot is tricky," Muhammad explained.
The boy noted that the most important thing for him is respect in the team. And not only to his teammates and coaches, but also to his opponents on the field. According to Muhammad, this is the kind of team that always wins because everyone respects and supports each other in any situation.
"I have many friends among my opponents. An opponent is not an enemy, on the contrary, he is a friend who makes you improve. And when you win, even with a big score, you should not think that the other team was weak. Every opponent should be taken seriously ", he shared.
Coach of the U-9 Dynamo team Mikhail Zhabkin calls Muhammad Yusuf a very promising FC player, noting that his distinctive features are speed, dribbling and the ability to quickly analyze the situation on the field.
“He has amazing technique. He is one of the best players on my team born in 2014. I hope he is the future of Dynamo Moscow,” the coach laughs.
Muhammad Shukhiev himself dreams that one day he will become a famous football player, earn a lot of money and buy a house for his grandmother in Moscow. The dream of a migrant child who does not know what other surprises fate has in store for him.
