South Americans spend their early years playing futsal, a version of the game (typically five-versus-five) played on a hard court with smaller goals and a ball with less bounce. Futsal players get more touches on the ball and must be quicker and more imaginative with it. For Christian to become an elite technical player, just learning tricks from the Brazilians wouldn't do. He needed to replicate their experience in full.
"[Futsal] really improved my technical ability and my ability to work in tight spaces," Christian told B/R Mag in an email from Germany.
CHRISTIAN PULISIC
NEYMAR JR.
"Futsal had a massive influence on me when I was growing up. It’s a very demanding game and it really helped to develop my technique, speed of thought, and ability to perform moves in tight spaces. I think futsal is a fundamental part of a footballer's life. When you’re out there playing, you’re forced to think fast and move faster – if you lose a second, the ball will be gone. It’s a more dynamic game and it’s come in handy. It definitely helped me to develop a fast game and that Brazilian smartness. I had a very happy childhood..." read more
Female Iranian futsal player Fereshteh Karimi has been shortlisted for the title of the Best Woman Player of the World, thanks to her astounding display of skills at the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Futsal Championship in Malaysia.
-Iran Front Page; read more
MO SALAH
Highly visible since coming to Liverpool, Mohamed Salah is one of the most prolific strikers in the Premier League just behind Hary Kane. In recent hours, a video circulates on social networks where we see the former player of Roma at a futsal tournament in Egypt where the player is very effective against the goal.
-Daily Motion; read more
"...that’s certainly enough to celebrate, for the second year in a row, Vanessa Cristina Pereira is the winner of the Best Woman Player of the World category of the UMBRO Futsal Awards 2011 & 2012 Edition." read more
RICARDINHO
the magician
Ana Catarina
