Young Hausl has big dreams
Rising German star in town to whet the appetite of young football dreamers
He spoke with a maturity that belied his tender age and the kids who were in attendance at the F-17 Academy training session at the Home United Youth Football Academy yesterday took in every piece of advice.
Charmaine Hausl turned 20 this year.
A graduate of the FSV Mainz 05 academy, he plies his trade with the Bundesliga club's Under-23 team, FSV Mainz 05 II, who compete in the third tier of German football.
Having already represented Germany at both the Under-16 and 17 levels, the promising centre back can also operate as a holding midfielder.
Like most promising young footballers, he has big dreams.
Speaking to The New Paper before the start of the training session yesterday, he said: "It's been my dream to play in the Champions League and also to represent my country at senior level.
"It will also be nice to play in one of the top leagues in the world.
"But, to do that, I hope I can make it to the Mainz first team and I will be working very hard to make that happen. I will have to do well in training and in every match."
When pressed about his ambition to play in a "top league", he said: "Real Madrid or Chelsea would be nice."
SURPRISE
Hence, it was somewhat of a surprise when Hausl tipped Real's rivals, Atletico Madrid, to win the Champions League final.
"I like Real but I hope Atletico can win because they have 'small' players who are not as well known as (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Karim) Benzema, and it would be nice for a 'smaller' team to win."
While that was a surprise, Hausl was only ever going to pick one country to lift the European Championship trophy.
"Germany, of course," he grinned.
"They just won the World Cup and the team have some new, younger players, so I hope they can win. A final against France would be nice."
Hausl will be in Singapore until Wednesday, hosting a holiday football camp for kids from the F-17 Academy which will kick off on Monday and he hopes to show participants the path to becoming a professional player.
"I got an offer from Mainz to come to Singapore, to come to F-17 to train the kids and to give them a taste of what football in Europe is like," he said.
"What the F-17 is doing is good because players have to start from a young age if they want to become professionals and that is why I thought this was a good opportunity to come down and teach the kids some of the things that I have learnt as a youth player.
"Most importantly, I want them to have fun and I want to have fun teaching them and I want to show them that if you work hard, anything is possible."
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