Mark Ebanks would have loved to be playing for Cayman against Bermuda last week.
Ebanks is a budding talent. Photo: Ron Shillingford |
The lightning fast striker might have put away at least one of the chances Cayman created early on and they wouldn’t have gone out of the World Cup qualifiers.
Regardless of the fact that Ebanks is only 17 and on the small side for a centre forward, his pace, skills and deadly eye for goal makes him a certainty for national honours eventually.
That’s why he’s been selected for Cayman national squad Under-20 training this week and why his club coach at Future SC, Roy Huta, rates him so highly.
Ebanks scored a hat-trick for Future SC against Sunset a couple of months ago. Cayman captain and Sunset centre back Tom Elliot was playing that day and Ebanks gave him and the Sunset defenders a world of trouble.
And as if to prove a point, on Sunday Ebanks hit both goals in Future’s 2-0 win over Academy at North Side. Ebanks’ fast feet and sharp mind were a blessing.
‘It would be an honour to play for the national team, but I need to work a little bit more,’ Ebanks said. ‘I would like to be included in national squads in the future because I believe I have the touch to score goals.
‘The Sunset game was satisfying but they didn’t really know how to defend right but my favourite match was scoring against Elite because they’re our West Bay rivals. I scored the only goal in that game.’
The avid Manchester United fan hopes to turn out for the Red Devils one day. Coach Huta certainly thinks Ebanks has the ability to realise his dream of turning pro.
‘In this game the two teams were evenly matched but I would say that the difference was that we had an opportunistic striker in Mark,’ Huta said. ‘He can create a goal from half a chance. But the midfield and defence was more or less equal between two young teams that are fighting for positions in the league.
‘One thing I have to commend my team for is that they held their defensive structure and their system with the pressure that Academy came with in the last 15 minutes.’
Huta has nothing but praise for Ebanks. ‘He is a tremendously talented striker. It’s a pity he’s not getting more international exposure. Hopefully in the future, the powers that be will see kids like him and start to invest their resources and money because this is where the future of Cayman football lies, in players like Mark Ebanks.’
Huta gave a frank interview in this paper on Friday about how he felt things could be improved to strengthen the Cayman national side.
‘The general opinion is that we really need a development programme based around our youths, transferring our youth national teams to senior level. Across the whole board we need better organisation.
‘It’s not true that I kept players away from national team training. The players came to me and I told them that was their personal decision if they wanted to represent their country.
‘But I enlightened them that it is very disappointing that they’re competing at Under-17 national level and Under-20 but when they come to the senior level they cannot break through and get selected.
‘I enlightened and educated them about the situation but I left it for their own decision to be based off what they see is going on in Cayman.’
Mark’s mother Yolanda Ebanks is very proud of him. ‘Mark has a burning ambition to be a footballer,’ she said. ‘He is very disciplined about it down to the point of what he puts into his body. He refuses sodas and prefers Gatorade. He sees other kids eating junk food and doesn’t want to copy them. Mark eats, sleeps and breathes football.’ Watching the Cayman-Bermuda game he was constantly texting mum insisting he should be out there scoring for the national side.
Yolanda ensures that his schooling never suffers for football. ‘Nothing can come in the way of that. It is so important. He also has a dream of becoming an accountant.’
That way he’ll be able to keep a close check of his millions when he makes it into the Man Utd side!
Related Videos
