With news readers like this the game can only go far
As if the World Champiosnhip was not enough, Brazil won the Pan -American games Futsal Gold medal in 2007.
Well a lot has gone on in the football world while "I was out" anyway instead of talking about the Champions League or the plethora of World Cup qualifying matches that has gone on for a few weeks I would like to actually address my attention to the state of the game.
The global financial meltdown is going to affect or already affected the transfer market and other financial dealings in the football world. Manchester United's sponsor AIG went into debt mood and this is a sign that this giant of a club could just go bankrupt if Malcolm Glazer decides to "jump ship": (an appropriate word considering he owns the American football team Tampa Bay Bucaneers).
This would leave the club in debt and this goes for Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal or even Aston Villa though the Midlands club can breath easier as Randy Lerner the new owner was either more shrewd in his spending or he just did not have enough cash to splash around.
This would leave the club in debt and this goes for Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal or even Aston Villa though the Midlands club can breath easier as Randy Lerner the new owner was either more shrewd in his spending or he just did not have enough cash to splash around.
If you think that this is unthinkable for a club like Manchester United or any of other "big" clubs think of Leeds United. One season they were in the Champions League Semi-Final and the next in administration the club has never recovered from this and if this is not caution enough I don't know what is.
Another aspect of the game that needs to be looked at is the salary, my god! I know this is the modern game, but getting paid hundreds of thousands of pounds per week!! We need to put things in perspective here. In the last few years soccer clubs in Europe have taken the latest fitness techniques and sport medicine skills from USA, even certain structures like having a sporting director or skills development coach why not a salary cap?
This seems logical and this explains why American sports hardly have this problem of having clubs or what they call franchises going bankrupt. Though they have certain strange things like moving a club (they even call it a franchise) from one state to another like relocating a McDonalds outlet, but my point is they minimize the damage by putting a salary cap.
This seems logical and this explains why American sports hardly have this problem of having clubs or what they call franchises going bankrupt. Though they have certain strange things like moving a club (they even call it a franchise) from one state to another like relocating a McDonalds outlet, but my point is they minimize the damage by putting a salary cap.
The overflow of football on TV is more of quantity than quality; La Liga, Bundesliga, EPL, Italian League, etc mind you if you have Wigan against Everton on one channel and Werder Bremen against Bayern Munich on another which will you watch? Sadly a lot will be watching the former due to marketing and not beacause of technical quality, but another question arises, in all the back to back matches of live telecasts on TV how long would you sit to watch two matches?
Well not a lot of people will not do that unless it involves the big teams or maybe if you were watching futsal.
Well not a lot of people will not do that unless it involves the big teams or maybe if you were watching futsal.
This week saw the end of an amazing World Futsal Championship come to a close In Brazil. Spain who won the last two Futsal World Championships and also the last European Championship and not to mention the Euro 11-a-side tournament in Austria and Switzerland were at their normal best.
They were expected to win three times on the trot despite the home advantage of Brazil and came close in the final and drew 2-2 before losing on penalty kicks. Futsal went back to their rightful owners or did it?
This game actually originated in Uruguay by Juan Carlos Ceriani who developed it for youth tournaments for the YMCAs, but the game was "kidnapped" by the Brazilians who codified and revolutionized the game, today in Brazil you can find a futsal court almost anywhere. In Brazil Futsal is played with a size two ball and the ball is a foam ball and is much heavier and thus harder to kick, so why did FIFA change it to a size four ball?
The rationale behind this is because for TV the ball cannot be seen, but this could have easily been solved with the ball having some contrasting colours, but hey!! We are talking about FIFA and Blatter here so change for the sake of it.
If this was done perhaps the game could have been preserved, instead the real Futsal is an endangered species that can only be found now in Brazil. All the top players from Pele, Zico, Rivellino, Falcao, Kaka, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, etc just about every Brazilian learn Futsal first before proceeding to the 11-a-side game.
Futsal and the small ball develops close control, touch and fast decision making and now wonder the Brazilians are masters at this, because the small and heavy ball is the factor, I emphasisze small. Spain and Portugal have had Futsal leagues in Europe for a long time with clubs like Benfica, Sporting, Barcelona having their own teams.
Futsal and the small ball develops close control, touch and fast decision making and now wonder the Brazilians are masters at this, because the small and heavy ball is the factor, I emphasisze small. Spain and Portugal have had Futsal leagues in Europe for a long time with clubs like Benfica, Sporting, Barcelona having their own teams.
Liverpool in the time of Shankly, Paisley and Fagan (No not a law firm but the holy trinity of coaches at Liverpool past.) believed in the religious practise of five-a-side games during training, this was their staple diet when they conquered Europe in 70s and 80s. Though not Futsal the principles of more touches on the ball, close control and understanding of each other in the micro play was vital to the teamwork for Liverpool.
The sport is the little brother of the 11-a-side game and the duration of the whole game is 40 minutes with time outs and 10 minutes of half-time. when the ball is kicked out or it is a time out, the time is stopped and this ensures that the fan actually gets a solid 40 minutes.
My father who hardly sits still for a 90 minute football match watched the whole 40 minutes of the Brasil v Russia semi-final of the World Futsal Championship. If you include three matches of Futsal it comes out to one football match plus extra-time, marketers are already salivating, a shrewd marketer could actually do a Futsal tournament much like the WTA Tennis tour combined with elements of NBA and not worry about the weather conditions at all, this sport is indeed a dream.
The fans can relate to the futsal heroes because they don't earn a ton of salary like some players in EPL (or is it the BPL, or did Barclays go bankrupt!! lol!!) do. Fans identify with these players and the sport still has the purity despite FIFA's slight "adjustment'. the skills on display the thrills and little movements that is so micro compared to the macro of the 11-a-side, but a word to the marketers..don't over do it, because in a way the purity and identification to this sport lies in the fact that money has not tainted it..not yet so please preserve this endangered species and watch out big brother!!
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