Man U scouts to see if Sydney boy can bend it like Beckham
He’s just 10-years-old, but Sydney soccer player Cruz Cummins is flying high, bound for the IBER Cup International Youth Football Tournament before meeting talent scouts from Manchester United
READING LEVEL: GREEN
Cruz Cummins has big dreams of one day representing Australia at football.
Months out from the Socceroos playing in the World Cup in Qatar, the 10-year-old from Sydney’s Hills District is preparing for his own starring role on the pitch.
The youngster will on Saturday fly to Europe to play in the Australian under-12 team as part of the IBER Cup International Youth Football Tournament.
“I hope I end up a top goal scorer,” Cruz said. “The most exciting thing about this tournament is to play against all the best players in the world at my age and hopefully I get to play against Ronaldo Jr (who) plays for Portugal.”
Two Australian teams will compete in the IBER Cup: the under-12s and the under-15s.
Players were selected from NSW and Victoria.
The IBER Cup kicks off in Andalusia in Spain on June 28, where the group stages begin, before moving on to Algarve and Estoril in Portugal.
Cruz’s favourite Aussie player is Tim Cahill, while his top international star is Kylian Mbappe.
Cruz, who plays either right wing or striker, has dreams beyond the IBER Cup.
“I would like to play for Liverpool and also represent Australia and hopefully go to a World Cup when I am older as captain of the Australian team,” he said.
“I’ve never been overseas before so I can’t quite believe I am going to be representing my country at a tournament overseas.”
Even though he has an eye on a future with Liverpool, Cruz will also head to the UK in September to take up an invite from Manchester United scouts* who want to further assess his ability and skills.
Two months later, the Socceroos will strut their stuff on the World Cup stage in Qatar after a heart-stopping penalty shootout victory over Peru in a qualifier last week.
GLOSSARY
- scouts: people whose job is to find someone with talent in a specific field
- heart-stopping: thrilling, exciting, exhilarating
- penalty shootout: a way of deciding the winner of a soccer game that ended in a draw
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QUICK QUIZ
- Which team is Cruz playing for in which international tournament?
- Who is he hoping to play against?
- Who is Cruz’s favourite Australian player?
- Who is his top international pick?
- Aside from one day representing Australia, which UK club does he want to play for?
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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Future soccer star
Cruz Cummins sounds like he has a bright sporting future. He has a very exciting trip ahead of him and the chance to play against the best kids in the world.
What sort of training and dedication does this opportunity come with? Cruz might also have to make some sacrifices to become a professional soccer player – what might these be?
Create a three-column table and under the three headings of TRAINING, COMMITMENT and SACRIFICES, list what you think would be required for Cruz to succeed and make his dreams come true.
Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Health and Physical Education; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Cruz has big goals for his future that revolve around soccer. What goals do you have or hope to achieve when you’re older? Write five things you’d like to achieve by 21 years of age.
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Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English; Personal and Social; Critical and Creative Thinking
VCOP ACTIVITY
Stretch your sentence
Find a “who” in the cartoon – a person or an animal. Write it down.
Add three adjectives to describe them better.
Now add a verb to your list. What are they doing?
Add an adverb about how they are doing the action.
Using all the words listed, create one descriptive sentence.