BORN TO DAZZLE
AMAJITA’S LUTHER SINGH 19-year-old striker has the qualities to take him to the top of the pile
TOP MARKSMAN: Sporting Clube de Braga forward Luther Singh has been around football since he was a baby in Soweto, thanks to his father, Moses A MILK bottle in his right hand and a soccer ball in his left.
Meet Luther Singh as a six-monthold toddler.
A few years later and it was out the door of his humble Noordgesig, Soweto, home and straight into the yard for a kickabout with his father Moses.
The last born and the only boy of three children has been the favourite child of the entire country — how could he not?
The formidable fashion in which this forward has captured and captivated the imagination of the nation has been inspiring.
Four goals in two matches for the South Africa Under-20 side at the Caf Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) tournament under way in Zambia has catapulted the 19-year-old into national prominence.
More so because he fired the first three goals in a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Cameroon in the Group B opening match on Monday.
The youngster has a mean streak in front of goal. His strikes are breathtakingly marvellous.
The first was a fine free-kick, the second a sweet strike from the spot-kick, the third a cool round-thekeeper and roll into an open net to get South Africa’s campaign off to a flying start.
“I bought him his first ball and as soon as he could walk at six months old, he always had his ball and his milk bottle,” remembers Luther’s first coach, his 45-year-old dad Moses. “I trained him to kick with both feet.”
In bygone years, Moses owned a team called Leicester City. It was affiliated to the Bosmont Football Federation. Aged seven, Luther broke into the team’s under-13 division. “He was a strong, fast and determined player. I used him as my sweeper — he was playing five. He was strong for a boy his age.”
Like his namesake from the Bible who took the people of Israel from Egypt to the promised land, Moses relocated his family from the drug and gangland of Noordgesig to Florida in the Roodepoort area.
“Not to take any credit away from this young man, the pillar of his strength and support comes from his home where family support was the best place for encouragement and positivity,” says Moses.
“When he was eight or nine, we decided we didn’t want to be in the community of Noordgesig. Not that we wanted to run away. We wanted to make a chance for our children.”
Luther, whose father named him after the late US civil rights leader Martin Luther King jr, lists Thierry Henry and Neymar as his heroes.
His mother is his universe and smile keeper. Cynthia, a housewife, describes her son as “my heartbeat who keeps me afloat”. The bond between mother and son is extra strong. Luther wears jersey No 55 for his Portuguese Primeira Liga club S.C. Braga.
“He wears that number because it is my age. He signed for them in January and in February I turned 55. As a child he was very energetic. He was up and down with the ball every day,” says Cynthia.
“He used to take the bread out of the packet to make a soccer ball. As a result, my bread was always lying around scattered in the bread tin.”
Cynthia cried when her son left home when he was 11, for the Stars of Africa Football Academy. “He has not lived with us for eight years, sacrificing to achieve his dream. He needed an opportunity to do it. Letting him go was for the best. He would call to tell me he wishes to hug and kiss me and that he wants to buy me a house.”
Skillful. Strong. Aggressive. Those BELOW: A promise to his parents fulfilled were the first three traits Farouk Khan, Stars of Africa technical director, observed about Luther.
“He was the youngest to be accepted at the academy. He never ever showed any fear. I saw fire in his eyes. He is always humble, respectful to elders and prepared to learn,” says Khan.
“Never will you hear him saying ‘I’m the next best thing’. He’s very selfless in whatever he does. Luther is still going to score a lot of special goals.
The football academy’s marketing director, Nademe Mahmoud, secured the young striker’s move to Sweden.
“Nademe spends 10 months in a year in Europe speaking to clubs. His cousin is a Fifa intermediary who knows many coaches in Europe,” says Khan.
Mahmoud took Luther to GAIS where he stayed for a year. He scored 11 goals in 36 appearances during his stay at the Swedish second division outfit. He is no Harry Kane, the Tottenham Hotspur marksman who has scored three hattricks in nine matches, the last two coming in a space of two weeks.
But Luther has a knack for threesomes. He scored his first for South Africa against Angola during the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) under-20 tournament in Rustenburg in December. Amajita annihilated Angola 5-0. They lost to Zambia in the final but Luther bagged the Golden Boot award with five goals.
His first at club level was in a 7-0 win over Ängelholm last May.
On Monday, in his first Afcon for his country, he set the scene alight against Cameroon.
“We were screaming, shouting and dancing; my wife was crying out of sheer joy that it happened in his first Afcon tournament. The emotions ran very high,” says Moses, a human resources officer at the Medupi power station in Lephalale, Limpopo.
On Thursday, Luther scored the third goal when Amajita squandered a 2-0 first-half lead to lose 4-3 to Senegal. Thabo Senong’s starlets are sitting second on the table on three points, one shy of Senegal.
Amajita will continue their pursuit for a place in the semifinals when they play Sudan in their final group match in Lusaka this afternoon at 3pm.
Victory will guarantee South Africa’s qualification as one of four African representatives at the Fifa Under-20 World Cup in South Korea in May. They will have to shore up their defence for Luther and company to reach Asia.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t win tonight [Thursday night]. But it is not the end of the road,” says Moses.
“It must have been a cruel lesson for the boys and they will learn not to lose the grip of a game. They were 45 minutes away from winning.”