schedules link? |
http://www.resultsmanager.com/event/nefutsal24/ |
I thought it was just an urban legend, but I did witness a chair thrown onto the court during the final in one of the older boys matches (probably U18).
My little kid thought it was very cool -- "Look - there are so many police watching the game!" I guess when you get that many teams and spectators together for 4 days, something is bound to happen! The scheduling of the tournament is poor, however--after playing 1 game each day on Friday/Saturday/Sunday ... suddenly on Monday the kids are playing a quarterfinal AND a semifinal AND a final all on the last day; physically and emotionally draining (and all on a school night!). Ah well, it was a wild experience as usual. |
There was a brawl at one of the men's matches on Saturday too (or maybe it was Friday?) The last four days are a blur |
I kept hearing about some Brasilian wunderkid futsal player the whole time I was there, but didn't get a chance to see any games he played in or even learn what age/team he was from.
Did anyone get to see him play? It was generating a buzz for sure. |
Yes! I also want to hear more about this. I saw massive amounts of people watching one of his games and heard rumors that he had security guards?! What was the real deal there? |
The security guards were not for him -- they were for keeping control of the chair-throwers lol. |
Yeah I don’t think the guards were for the kid. It was for the heated parents. The kid was U12. I don’t think their team advanced past the group stage but I did watch one of his games and he was very good. Great ball control and quick instincts. |
What club was he with? |
If he's really Brazilian and U12, he's been playing 99% Futsal all his life. With good coaches, teammates and opponents. He'll easily be exceptional here. |
This is what makes futsal so awesome. The games are exciting and the action happens so fast. I've seen chairs thrown on the court, coaches ejected, scoreboards ripped off the wall (it was me 😀), and parent fights in the stands. The best part is once the game is over everyone moves on because it doesn't matter. At night the kids that were mortal enemies on the court are best friends playing together in the hotel pool. |
My son says he has a bunch of Tik Tok followers, he was excited to watch him but didn't think he was exceptional. Lots of kids asking for photos with him. |
Generally Brazilians have a hard time playing Futsal in the US because our refs let a lot more physicalness go than they do in Brazil. Unfortunately this takes away from the spirt of Futsal which is supposed to focus on skills and team play. |
He's got 1.3 million Instagram followers and was signed to a Nike sponsorship at age 8. Feel weird posting his name since he's a child, but if you look up youngest soccer player signed by Nike, very easy to find coverage of him. He played with a bunch of teams his year and older for Flair out of Boston, but I don't think any of them made the finals - he was very impressive to watch and was extremely patient and polite with all the kids approaching him for photos and signatures. |
we try to ruin the game with and celebrate physicality because of the obvious |