Despite being a relatively inexperienced player, Adelaide United’s teenage sensation has everything it takes to emulate the best, writes Tim Palmer. 

Even if he wasn’t a footballer, Awer Mabil’s life story would still be fascinating. Born in a Kenyan refugee camp, he came to Australia five years ago with his family. In his own words, though, “I was only a little bit interested in playing soccer but loved to watch it,” and it took some time until he began playing the game. However, his growth as a player benefited enormously from a scholarship at the South Australian Sport Institute.

In that respect, Mabil might be seen as a late bloomer but he has since accelerated into the A-League, making his debut for Adelaide United against Perth Glory early in 2013. It was his sixth appearance, however – the first for the new season – that caught the eye. Off the bench for the injured Daniel Bowles, Mabil impressed early on from the left flank, driving directly at the Victory defence when in possession.

Such boldness on the ball can be somewhat credited to Josep Gombau’s instructions. “The coach has given me the confidence and told me “you go one-v-one, I trust you, just go,’’ Mabil said. It’s easy to see why Gombau had such faith – three minutes into his substitute appearance, he turned Jason Geria inside out, but the shot was poor. It was much more accurate the second time round, when his strike off the post was tapped in by Jeronimo for Adelaide’s second.

Mabil points to prior knowledge to explain his willingness to run at Geria. “A couple of weeks back we played them (Victory) and I studied them then in a friendly and I set up the winning goal (2-1 win). But before the game on Friday I knew what he hated and what he liked so I was just confident.’’

Mabil’s natural athleticism also helped. He’s obviously incredibly pacy, and for an 18-year-old, he’s quite powerful – which in turn, probably feeds his confidence. His movement from outside to in, cutting onto his right foot, however, became obvious and his influence waned as the game progressed. The circumstance didn’t help either, with the way Adelaide collapsed under waves of Victory pressure, limiting the potential of their attacking forays. There’s also the suspicion that Mabil is in part to blame for Geria’s influential attacking play in the second half – the Victory right-back constantly got forward to find James Troisi on his inside, between the Adelaide lines.

It’s difficult to write a full appraisal of Mabil at this stage, with his A-League showings limited to substitute appearances, but the early feeling is that Mabil is the latest in a line of quick, direct ‘wide forwards’ – the type that Australia seems to be producing a lot of. Mabil resembles the likes of Joel Chianese, and Robbie Kruse, with his readiness to take defenders on and the obvious natural speed.

Tim is the sole writer at his A-League tactics blog, Australia Scout. He is also a tactical analyst for Four Four Two and Leopold Method. Follow him on Twitter: @timhpal.