So when the jack-of-all-trades’ Merryland International School were 1-0 down at half time against Abu Dhabi Indian School, the 14-year-old switched from right-back to striker and told his coach he would score the winning goal.

And, to give the teenager his dues, he netted the second goal in a 2-1 win as Merryland went top of the NSL Under-14 table and booked their place in the knockout stages.

“Me going from defence to attack changed the game and I scored the winning goal,” said Ahmed.

“In the first half we were losing 1-0. The coach put me at striker in the second half and said to me ‘score a goal for me’. I told him I would score and that it would be the winning goal.”

Mohammad Ibad opened the scoring for ADIS but a tactical tweak by Merryland at the interval worked wonders. First Tariq Kamal levelled before Ahmed reacted quickest after a team-mate’s effort crashed against the crossbar.

He added: “I’m a joker, I play any position. I am happy to play anywhere for the team but I was much happier when the coach put me up front. Now, we want to win the tournament, we are so confident of this.”

Merryland also beat Al Yasmina 2-1, although that and another 1-0 defeat were extremely harsh on the depleted side, who played both games with seven players.

“It was tough, we had such a massive disadvantage,” admitted Anthoni Crouchman, who nevertheless picked up the man of the match award in a game Yasmina did enough to win.

“I don’t know how we did it. We had chances to win it, I guess we were just unlucky.”