By Dinna Chan Vasquez

James Younghusband looks good in photographs but a snapshot does not capture his beautiful soulful eyes, which are framed by impossibly long and thick lashes. A picture cannot completely approximate his near-perfect profile. This is someone whose looks are better appreciated up close. James and his younger brother Phil are football players. They are British football players, which makes them future David Beckhams. Like Beckham, who is James’ role model, the Younghusbands are as much adored for their looks as they are for their athleticism. Phil has been likened to Josh Harnett for his in-your-face pretty boy looks but James has a darker and therefore, more exotic, face. If Wuthering Heights had a remake, James would be perfect as Heathcliff. If Phil is all sunshine and smiles, James is more brooding and for women who love mystery in their man, more alluring.

James Joseph Younghusband is the oldest of three children of Philip Younghusband, a British accountant who is now deceased, and his wife Susan, who hails from Malabon. The Younghusband boys have always been athletic and played different sports but James and Phil eventually chose football not only as a favorite sport but as a career.

James was barely 12 years old when he decided to concentrate on football. In 1996, he signed up with Chelsea FC and signed a scholarship with them. He is presently playing for AFC Wimbledon.

By all accounts, James and his brother did well at the Salesian School in London. His mother says her sons are not only intelligent but conscientious students as well and somehow, you know that this is not just a proud mama talking. James himself says he was a good student.

“Someday, I’d like to go to university to study architecture or graphic design but for now, football is my life,” said the 20-year-old, who recently signed a deal with celebrity agent PR Asia Worldwide.

Because of football, James has travelled to countries like Germany, Finland, Sweden, Holland, France, Thailand, the United States, Puerto Rico, Austria and Singapore to compete.

In 2005, James and Phil were contacted by the Philippine Football Federation to play for the national team in the Southeast Asian Games that year. The football matches were held in Bacolod, Negros Occidental where the sport is very big and big, tall and handsome young hunks like the Younghusbands are demi-gods. In an island that is already football-crazy to begin with, the brothers became and remain demi-gods to a legion of pre-pubescent young girls who declare their love and adulation through letters, cards and e-mail messages.

But for now, girls are the farthest thing from James’ mind. He says football is the first order of business: “I want to work my way up the leagues in England.”

James and Phil also want to buy their own house in two or three years’ time. Yes, despite the rivalry forced on them by circumstances, the brothers are best friends and partners. The brothers say they are different in that Phil is more outgoing while James is more reserved. But James and Phil have the same goals and dreams, are very close to their mother and little sister Keri, are both movie buffs and like watching the same TV shows such as Lost, Prison Break and Heroes. They also love comic books like Superman and Spiderman. “Honestly,” says James, “I’d love to pick up a good book and read but I don’t have the time.”

James, the image model of Italian accessory line Armando Caruso, is also an old soul whose favorite actors are Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. He says he likes to go out but he’s not a party boy, which leads his mother Susan to say that “James is a good boy. Sometimes, I have to force him to go out and have fun.”

James admits that as he gets older, there is something that he notices about himself.

“I am becoming more Asian,” he says. “I would consider relocating here because I love the food and the weather. It doesn’t have to be right now but it can happen.”