Brazuca FC a youth soccer enterprise that raises excessive hopes

It is a kind of sports betting to see if talent will be rewarded with leaving the country to play professional soccer, where unavoidably just a few stand to succeed, but the level of animation is rather astonishing. 

It is a globally scattered soccer side, with branches in practically all countries with such yearning.

An online check shows that the youth soccer entity, known outside as 'Brazuca', is a commercial tag growing out of World Cup finals fantasy, where it appears countries compete to produce balls to be used in the competition.

In 2010, South Africa produced a 'Jabulani' ball, and in 2014 Brazil created the 'Brazuca' legend with Adidas, a long-term global soccer partner, producing the ball. 

The name was chosen from online voting and seemingly implies something like ‘al watan’ here.

What is not clear unless one delves too far into the chronicle is whether the current youth enterprise still has anything to do with Brazil, as it appears to have become a term to suggest sporting friendship among the youth, mid-teens especially who can be allowed to travel.

Those still too young are unlikely to be allowed by parents to follow soccer dreams abroad, the parameter that appears to animate most movers of the Brazuka FC initiative in Dar es Salaam. Individual youths can also seek access.

At a glance, Brazuka is not different from academy activity, seeking out young boys for intensive training, often attached to a school especially as these days going to secondary school is regularized, almost universal.

Yet with academies the proper intent is to raise soccer abilities, leaving professionalism to chance, without for once losing the probability of such an opportunity on the horizon.

With Brazuka on the other hand, the possibility of moving out is dangled as if it is the real objective.

Yet one needs to take a back seat and try to figure out the psychology of the local initiative, pulling youths to a world soccer club where they can play for clubs abroad.

What is astonishing is not that a young fellow can indeed be picked to play outside as that has been common for a while but the idea being cultivated that nearly everyone can make it.

Just how much local soccer talent is needed outside it is the issue, and an impression is being created that ‘the sky is the limit'.

For once, those who discuss the Brazuka FC initiative on radio shows do not focus on actual success cases of going out, and when that comes up it is a reflection of some past events, especially by adult footballers.

Youths shifting to other countries have been heard about national youth soccer sides, often picked to European lower-end league sides, and often quite successfully.

Some are already being picked for the national side, but the majority grew up with big-league sides.

Based on the experience of trials with youth soccer players heard from trainers like Ramadhani Singano, a veteran of the city rivals and running an academy, there is a checking mechanism to these dreams.

Youths do not express interest in either Brazuka FC or an academy where this enterprise is fairly well known but need to foot their bills like travel and accommodation to arrive there.

In that case, there is an additional checkpoint later, if one is spotted by a scout and signed up, to depart.

So the local Brazuka FC tries to widen the circle of those who can be seen and for a time, watched and perhaps be selected for trials and hopefully, a trip abroad.

It is an academy with a different vision, where passing with flying colours is not to be followed by admission into youth sides of major Premier League sides, but by flying out of the country.

The big expectation in that regard is that in due course we stand a chance of harvesting the fruits of a sizable foreign presence for the senior national team, Taifa Stars.

This is what can be noticed with teams of neighbouring countries which were in the past whipping bags in regional competitions, and which in turn makes the proper African Nations Cup (AFCON) quite different from the tourney of home-based players, African Nations Championship (CHAN).

For years, our outfit for the CHAN was not different from the proper senior national side, when we had three players out there in professional soccer, namely Mbwana Samatta, Thomas Ulimwengu, and Simon Msuva. Now we have a whole crop of young players living abroad, just called for national team trials as it were.

Just as the local Premier League scene is becoming more competitive by leaps and bounds, it appears the same situation characterizes the West European scene.

Finding players from Africa is like they are just paying for the ticket if they come across really good talent, which is similarly not easy due to poor physical formation up to the mid-teens.

One story that comes up in the newsroom is that, at one point, Arsenal's legendary coach Arsene Wenger was asked to receive youths from Tanzania and he firmly declined, I do not want them to die in my hands!