Dubai: It is a growing trend among top coaches and former footballers that the sport of futsal is essential for the right development of young players. While in the early days, players used to play a bit of futsal to sharpen their ball skills, it is more and more a growing phenomenon to see young players sent to futsal academies before they actually start their careers.
Last week during the course of his visit to Dubai, Alessandro Rosa Vieira, more famous as Falcao, admitted he felt ‘responsible’ for being the world’s best futsal player.
Last night, I was in conversation with Ricardo Felipe da Silva Braga, considered by many as the second best futsal player after Falcao. The dimunitive Portuguese star, commonly known as Ricardinho or ‘O Magico’ (The Magician) spoke about the ways and means that can be adopted in a country like the UAE to take futsal to the next level.
While an unfortunate knee injury kept Falcao from showing the UAE crowd his skills during an exhibition match held on the opening day of the futsal competition at the Nad Al Sheba Ramadan Championships here, spectators have been thrilled to witness the sublime skills and splendid goals by The Magician.
Two world-class legends come down to Dubai and then give suggestions for improving the game. Surely there must be something special about this place or the way futsal is being played here.
Falcao feels futsal needs the same sort of backing that football receives if the sport is to become truly global.
“People call me the best and this is a good feeling,” he said. “But along with the title comes the responsibility of doing everything possible for the spread of futsal anywhere I go.”
Ricardinho is more pragmatic. He would rather see the sport blossom on the support it has been receiving from patrons such as Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Sports Council.
“Support like this should not be lost,” he said. “Futsal needs this sort of backing. I would be willing to help any time.”
Both players are convinced that the UAE has all the ingredients to shore up the following for futsal. I, for one, would not be surprised to see players such as Falcao and Ricardinho playing here on a regular basis to boost the sport’s development.
The support is there. The facilities and infrastructure are among the best. All we need now is to get the youngsters hooked on futsal and we can hope for much more skilful UAE footballers in the future.
