Talented Soccer child defies fear from his embattled neighborhood

(Reporting by Farsi al-Rifai; Translation by Dani Murad)

From the heart of Damascus, in Qaboun neighborhood and coinciding with the World Cup 2014, the Facebook page “Lens of young Dimashqi” has published a number of pictures of a child under the age of five, long-haired, and blond, performing graceful charming sport movements that made him look older than he is.

Under the pictures, a written comment that says “ Zain (Abu Taim), nicknamed “the Qabouni Carles Puyol” in reference to Qaboun neighborhood, during strenuous exercises in preparation for the World Cup."

Puyol , whom Zain has taken his name , is a Spanish retired footballer, who served as the longtime team captain for his club Barcelona, and won with his team the total of 21 titles between the Spanish league ,Spanish Cup and Europe's Champions League, all the way to the Spanish, European, and world Super Cup.

And Zain has so many similarities with Carles Puyol in terms of physical appearance (the long blond hair and face features) in addition to his passion and obvious early talent.

Zaman Al Wasl got in touch with the admin of the Facebook page, to obtain more information about the mentioned child, whose sport moves predict a great athlete future, and he said that Zain is like any child playing in the street, sometimes he plays in Qaboun neighborhoods and other times in the heart of Damascus.

And added that the child’s family prefer not to mention the name of the area where their child plays, “it’s safer” as they say, noting that Zain hasn’t enrolled in any team or sport club because of his young age, and only plays and in the street.

When asked about Zain’s attitudes while being photographed and his talent in playing, the admin said that the child is very talented and plays way older than his age in terms of the movements he performs.

While being filmed, Zain plays and practices with his friend in the road as the images show, and sometimes he gets bored and awaits any opportunity to get rid of the camera’s monitoring to complete his game. The admin added.

Zain is one of the Real Madrid’s fans and tries to imitate the movements of its players, and according to the admin, the child likes to play everywhere, particularly at home, where he makes a mess of everything, as described.

It is noteworthy that the ongoing war in Syria for more than 3 years, has deprived Syrian children from their favorite toys and games especially football, which they used to practice in clubs, streets, schools and parks, and in this context Facebook activists have created a "Hashtag" named "Syria in Brazil" and published a picture of a child expressing her passion for football, saying: "I am Syrian and I love football but this year I cannot watch the World Cup because I had to escape regime's crimes and live in tents without any of life’s necessities ."

Under another child’s picture, behind the camp’s fence, similar to any of the worlds’ stadiums net, a comment that says: "My father loves football and he used to play with me, and bring balls to our house, and beside him I used to watch matches of his favorite team Argentina, but this time I’m lonely because my father is a detainee for more than a year in regime’s prisons.