It's not easy to excel in a sport at a young age, but Yacouba Bamba is one of the upcoming talents coming out of American soccer and he's only 14.
The New York Red Bulls Soccer Academy already has a player with great potential in its ranks.
It's a kid from the Bronx whose family took him to a low-cost academy and he is now a player with a promising future.
A tournament in Barcelona was enough for him to realise that he was ready for the next step, and even at the age of 14, he already showed a significant superiority against other players of his age.
In his academy he was described as a different player with great athletic conditions, capable of excelling.
Wants to be like Cristiano Ronaldo
Although it is still too early to think about targets for his career, he is clear about his first major goal: to get a professional contract.
In an interview with the New York Post, he shared that ambition and he also mentioned that Cristiano Ronaldo is his role model as a player.
The Manchester United forward is who he wants to follow because of his work ethic on the field and his competitive mentality.
In the meantime, he is developing in the youth ranks of the New York club, where he is one of the youngest players, and he could soon begin to dream of his MLS debut.
Cuzaikmp
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People think we CR7 fans compare between Messi and CR7 but from the bottom of our hearts we don’t, M10 is more talented naturally with very rare abilities but for CR7 with much less attributes and less anything you could think off but put so much work ethic to become the best is really inspirational. We don’t admire CR7 because he’s more talented but because his dedication and hard work makes him more reliable especially on big occasions. Many more young talents will choose CR7 as their idol because of his hard work not talent ‘why?’ Simple CR7 has proven against all odds that it’s possible everywhere he’s played.