Courtesy: Belper News


It is just like watching Brazil!

BELPER footballer Leigh Holbrook was given a tough introduction to his England futsal career in the recent KL world 5s tournament in Kuala Lumpur.
Leigh, 28, was part of the England squad who are still novices in the futsal arena and it was always going to be tough.

England, ranked 120th in the world played fourth-ranked Argentina and were given a futsal lesson as the South Americans cruised to a 12-1 victory.

Day two saw a 7-2 defeat against 59th-ranked Indonesia after which followed a 6-1 loss against Australia, 32nd in the world.

The final group game was against hosts Malaysia (71st) and the misery was completed by a 6-2 defeat.

On the final day England took on China, ranked 41st, in the bowl final and went down 7-3.

Many of the players England came up against are futsal professionals and the difference in class was obviously apparent.

The world number one ranked Brazilians eventually won the tournament, beating Argentina 4-0 in the final.

Brazil won all six of their games, scoring 25 goals without conceding any!

They included Falcao in their team who is the best futsal player in the world. He has also played for the renowned Sao Paulo at 11-a-side.

Despite the difficult games and defeats, Leigh really enjoyed his experience. After watching the final on Sunday, he said: “I was very impressed with the quality of opposition. The Brazilians are amazing”.

This may be a clue as to why Brazil and Argentina play 11-a-side football the way they do as all of their top players are brought up playing futsal when they are young.

From facing the might of the Argentinians one week, Leigh is back for Belper Oberon against Black Swan in the Belper five-a-side league this Sunday!







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