Courtesy: Bangkok Post


Futsal has important role to play in the future

JOHN DYKES

Watch a tournament featuring the world's best players of a modified version of an established game - say, rugby sevens or six-a-side cricket - and chances are you will see it won by a nation which also excels at the traditional version of the game.

So, world rugby champions South Africa can always be expected to put up a good showing on the world sevens circuit, and virtually any one of the Test-playing cricket nations could hope to win the Hong Kong Sixes in any year.

But watch a futsal tournament, like the KL World 5s which kicks off in Malaysia next week and it will soon become apparent that England, former world football champions, will very likely finish last in a 10-team tournament also containing China, Malaysia and Australia.

England's senior futsal team has won only one match in 46 attempts and lost 4-2 and 6-3 in matches against Andorra last October.

When they last visited Kuala Lumpur for a similar tournament four years ago, Iran put 14 goals past them.

On that occasion, as is always the case when they play, England's futsal players struggled to maintain possession of the ball, possessed inferior close control and lacked the technical qualities that futsal demands.

Put cruelly, they were far removed from the likes of Bebeto, Romario or Zidane, who grew up playing versions of football that required close-quarters cunning and seriously cute ball control.

Ronaldo, in his pomp during his time at Barcelona, demonstrated skills he learned on the futsal court: immaculate close control, a stunning change of pace, clever use of the bottom of his boot as well as the top, and the ability to hit shots early, to toe-poke or stab them, and generally work a split-second advantage over the goalkeeper. Fact: Ronaldo played futsal up until the age of 16.

Likewise, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ronaldinho who both credit the skills-based game with making them the players they are today.

Watch 11-a-side football played by the likes of Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Russia and Portugal and it's easy to see the influence of their strong national futsal set-ups.

In countries like Spain, players in the professional futsal leagues earn as much as their 11-a-side counterparts.

There are more registered futsal players than football players in Italy.

Dinamo Moscow's futsal club is an economic powerhouse to rival many 11-a-side clubs in Russia.

In England, however, the game is still rare. Traditional 11-a-side matches predominate and five-a-side is used either as a training exercise or in a bounce-the-ball-off-the-walls carnival game played by out-of-shape veterans.

England's futsal coach, Graeme Dell, believes the desperate record of his team points to a wider malaise in the English game.

"A lot of the success of countries like Brazil or Italy has to do with the breeding of players in the younger age groups and the fact that they grow up playing futsal," he said in a recent interview.

"They learn to keep the ball in play because of the nature of the futsal ball and court. That is what futsal is all about. It's a platform to allow a player to use invention and game understanding to not only develop themselves but get out of trouble."

While there is a coaching franchise in Britain which teaches a version of futsal endorsed by Brazilian legend Jairzinho to youngsters, very little attention is paid to the Fifa-endorsed futsal which we will see on show next week.

Dell's England team is basically a club side from Tranmere, owing to the lack of a structured English league system from which to select international players. Should they come up against Malaysia or the Ukraine, they would be up against countries with comparatively sophisticated league structures.

England's failure to qualify for football's Euro 2008 and the subsequent soul-searching about the state of the game will have helped Graeme Dell in his campaign to have futsal taken more seriously by the English establishment and, crucially, by coaches at major clubs.

He could also do with more public support for futsal like that shown by Manchester City and England defender Micah Richards who said he grew up playing with the heavier futsal ball on tight indoor courts and credits that for his confidence on the ball.

If more players like Richards come along - players who combine English football's traditional athleticism and work-rate with top-notch technical ability - then maybe the future doesn't look entirely gloomy for England. That, though, is the mid-to-long-term prognosis. In the immediate future, Dell and his England team will be in for some testing times against Brazil and company in KL.

If you come along to the tournament no one will be asking you to cheer for England, only to understand where they have come from and how important their participation in futsal is to the 11-a-side game we all watch week in week out.

John Dykes is the host of Football Focus on ESPN.





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com