Futsal world cup

Soldato
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Is anybody watching it on Eurosport? I love futsal, used to play it a fair bit at uni and it is a fantastic sport. Has anyone else played it or is it just me? It doesn't seem to have that much of a following in the UK yet which is a shame.
 
It's actually pretty different, you really notice it when you play it-I'm not a fan of 5 a side, but love futsal!

To start with, it can go over head height, the ball can go out of bounds, and you can enter the keeper's areas. The goals are also taller (about the size of hockey goals). The ball is about 25% smaller than an 11 a side ball, and 30% harder.

As the ball can go out of bounds, this actually reduces the size of the pitch a fair bit from 5 a side, which means that when it's played well (that Italy game they just showed wasn't the best) you really have to hammer passes to each other as they need to get through tiny gaps. Whereas 5 a side is about a lot of hustle, the best futsal teams are all pass and move-the difference between futsal and 5 a side is a bit like the difference between Arsenal and Bolton-both can be really effective when they play well, but only one is beautiful!
 
In Spain when you are a kid is the only kind of football you play. Most kids will learn to play in these kind of football. It helps lots with your technique as the space is limited and you haven't got walls helping you out.
5-a-side (and I know it because I play it every week) is not as good in my opinion for this.
Anyway I tip Spain for the win!
 
They do look like a good side, watching them against Uruguay at the moment. Their pivot looks like a useful player.

It is certainly not as good a game as 5 a side, I just don't find it anything like as enjoyable. It also does really improve your technique; I was always a bit dodgy on the ball in 11 a side-my first touch was cack, and I certainly couldn't run with it. All I could do is pass and tackle. After playing two years of futsal I'm a completely different player :)
 
I've been watching a fair old chunk of it, It's quite good, although some of the teams are cack. I've just watched Iran v Czech republic and surprisingly Iran were half decent and went through.
 
Yeah, Iran are supposed to be pretty good.
It is a shame that England doesn't play it (with the foul weather and all) as it will do wonders to the technique and quality of future generations of players.
 
I've been saying that we should play it over here for a while-it really does help technique, and is clearly a core component in the Brazilian style-Ronaldinho still moves like a futsaller! It's also a lot better than 5 a side, so why we play that over it I don't know, especially as futsal is the worldwide game!
 
Loads and loads of money is being pumped into Futsal for the 7-16 year old age group. It will take a few years but it should see a great improvement in the quality of players we produce and their ability to make decisions under pressure. Technically you can teach players how to pass a ball or head the ball better or run faster but you can never teach them how to make decisions in a game. Futsal should hopefully help out with that.

Futsal is weird because it looks like 5-a-side but it is a completely different game. It's really hard to explain but if you can remember a team like Spain how they played in the Euros with a lot of incisive passing in a pretty small place thats what Futsal helps develop. Whilst there might be this big massive pitch, the players peripheral field of play is a lot smaller.
 
That is a good thing although I haven't seen anywhere in Lincoln (where I used to live) or Cambridge (where I live now) that allows me to do so. I suppose it is being introduced to the bigger cities first.
 
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