Anas Zara is a 16-year-old attacking midfielder who plays for Manurewa in the New Zealand National League. Manurewa were relegated at the end of the season, and Zara only turned 16 in the final weeks of the season, so the odds were stacked against him in terms of having any kind of positive impact. But Zara was the team’s second top scorer and showed some decent potential.
Judging Zara’s physicals is a little bit difficult, as he is so much younger than almost every other player on the pitch. I would say he is around 5’10″ and, while he is obviously quite a bit weaker than the grown men he is playing against, he is probably quite strong for his age. Zara is quite good at receiving the ball between the lines with a defender on his back. His first touch is quite strong, and he is good at using his body to shield the ball. After receiving the ball, Zara often attempts to quickly play the ball in behind the opposing defence. His execution on these passes is often not quite right. He sends a lot of attempted throughballs flying out of play or straight through to the opposition goalkeeper. His vision is clearly quite good, but the execution is not there yet. Zara also attempts a lot of first-time passes or flicks. This produces the occasional moment of brilliance but, at this stage, mostly leads to turnovers. Zara took corners and set pieces for Manurewa and got quite a large number of key passes from dead balls. Zara does not do a lot of dribbling, but he can progress the ball through 1-2s. Zara sometimes lines up as a centre-forward for Manurewa, but he is not very much of a penalty box presence. This is partly because Manurewa were very bad and did not get to the opposition penalty box very much in general. But also, if Zara is going to play as a centre-forward, even one who drops deep to link play, he must improve his instincts in the box. Too often, Manurewa would get the ball wide or into the final 3rd and Zara would still be nowhere near the dangerous areas of the box.
On the defensive side of things, Zara certainly tries hard, but he is not having that much impact yet. The physical disadvantage he has against grown men means he basically never wins headers. He is a little more effective in ground duels, where he does a decent job of wrestling the ball off opponents. He does a decent job of pressing and closing down passing lanes with the angle of his pressing. The problem is, he’s just a little bit too slow right now, and stronger opponents can move the ball around him.
Right now, Anas Zara is a pretty middling player in semi-pro New Zealand football. But considering his age and the weakness of his team, that’s actually pretty good. I think if he were a world-class prospect, he probably would have a little bit more impact at such a low level, but I could see him making the jump to the A-League in a couple of years and then following the pathways that players from that league have taken (e.g, Scotland, the Netherlands, MLS, etc.). There will probably be at least a couple more NZNL seasons before then, though.
Target Scouting 