Futsal World Championship 2016

[TRM]

Groups here: http://www.fifa.com/futsalworldcup/groups/index.html

Match Schedule: http://www.fifa.com/futsalworldcup/matches/index.html

TSN is showing some with Egypt destroying Cuba today 7-1. Most on TSN Go but some on TV.

http://www.tsn.ca/2016-fifa-futsal-world-cup-1.538228

[The Ref]

Nice that it is on TV available in Canada.  Great looking stadiums in Colombia.

[TRM]

A lot being shown overnight and not live but I've got my PVR set to fill up this week.

[Unnamed Trialist]

I have gotten to see a few games, late night, and some repeats. Have to say I am enjoying it. Also agree the stadiums are nice, and decent fan presence. Personally I am used to a different way of showing futsal on TV, closer up (they focus half the stands constantly, too far from the play), but it is fine.

I am used to futsal league in Spain which is the world's strongest, and most teams play the same way, it is very structured and disciplined and tactical, though with high talent levels with all the top Brazilians, so it is refreshing to see how other nations play differently. And how reffing is different too.  I like how the Spain league plays, but sometimes it bogs down since defensive discipline is so rigid. It can be overly predictable. And refs call everything, too much perhaps.

In some ways this is how football used to be, you could watch a WC and see distinct styles by national traditions, it was what made it so enjoyable. So this is a bit that, you can see there are different ways of playing and that is quite interesting. 

An example is Thailand, who play very well. They are small and technical, pretty disciplined, feisty, they came back beautifully to beat Cuba and did well vs. Russia who are a powerful nation in futsal. I see Vietnam also is doing well, so thinking they really must be playing a lot in SE Asia, but had no clue.

Another funny team is Mozambique, they came back to draw Ukraine then fell 4-2, mostly because they are chaotic, do not cover properly in defence, make simple dumb errors. But without those, with a bit of proper cover back, they'd be dangerous, as the talent is high, the football skills, and they are bold and come up with beautiful attacking plays. Good keeper too.

Personally do not like to see Italy qualify as I don't like how they stuffed ther NT with Brazilians and went from there, bad principle. Over half the team. Azerbaijan has 5 Brazilians, almost the whole team play together at Araz. 

Apart from Spain the power centre in Europe is shifting east, Russia, Ukraine, and into the Caucasus. With good clubs too, though quite a few nationalized Brazilians. 

As for Concacaf, our region is the weakest. I thought Cuba was very sloppy technically, for example. Still, a shame we were not able to qualify as it would have been a great experience.

[The Ref]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Still, a shame we were not able to qualify as it would have been a great experience.

I wonder why we cannot qualify.  Futsal needs far less players than 11 aside.  We can't argue the climate as a problem since futsal is all indoors.  I assume coaches are not paid exorbitant salaries.  Or is it that our lads are simply clumsy and undisciplined to play a structured game.  Just saying...

[TRM]

3 hours ago, The Ref said:

I wonder why we cannot qualify.  Futsal needs far less players than 11 aside.  We can't argue the climate as a problem since futsal is all indoors.  I assume coaches are not paid exorbitant salaries.  Or is it that our lads are simply clumsy and undisciplined to play a structured game.  Just saying...

We don't play it enough. Most of the country is still playing arena soccer.

Is it just TSN or my TelusTV but most of the repeat games I'm taping show different teams than advertised with the same game being recorded in different time slots. Very weird.

The games themselves have been very fun. Love the hyper aggressive Kazak keeper! Killer shot and out to centre even when they are not behind. Very nice to see flair like that.

Kudos to Vietnam for beating Guatemala. I thought Argentina was rather weak. I was expecting more from them but lots of bad give aways.

More fun to come.

[Unnamed Trialist]

I predict a Spain-Brazil final, with the only possibility Russia taking out Spain, though not sure they are on the same side of the draw. 

Any of Portugal or Italy could sneak in to semis, on a very good day.

That is about it. Brazil is the best team by far. Spain is the second best, by far. Then 4-5 teams in the next group with Russia the best, probably. And Portugal only because they have Ricardinho, who is amazing.

For anyone who hasn't seen him, watch a highlight reel of Ricardinho.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Round of 16, favourites in BOLD. Otherwise the draw is close. Possible surprises: Thailand into quarters. Spain has to be careful as the rival is tough and they are not closing out games in dominant fashion.

Russia-Vietnam

Colombia-Paraguay

Brazil-Iran

Spain-Kazakhstan

Portugal-Costa Rica

Argentina-Ukraine

Thailand-Azerbaijan

Italy-Egypt

[TRM]

Just back from being offline for 5 days and a lot  of catching up . The only game I saw was Columbia vs Paraguay. Neither team wanted to lose more than anything else. It is games like that when I want a "No over and back centre line" rule. The fans were giving it to them and deservedly so. I hope neither makes it far.

Now off to my PVR for a few hours of catching up.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Incredible upset in the WC, Iran takes out Brazil. Hands down the most important upset in the history of international futsal, with Iran coming back late, drawing, taking it to penalties, winning. 

A beautiful moment and a great credit to them at the end, with the Brazilians in tears, and Falcao, the leading scorer in the history of the WC desolate. All the Iran players went together to console him, and ended up tossing him in the air, really extraordinary. See the highlights here:

In other play Spain had a hard time getting past the Kazakhs, 3-2 late and a terrible reffing decision red-carded striker Lozano on a play where he injured himself, trying to make a hard cut he pulled a knee ligament, fell, and the ref carded him for simulation, second yellow means a penalty. So it was 5 attackers vs 3 for 2 minutes, Spain held on, scored on the open net. 5-2.

The Colombia-Paraguay, TRM, well I thought they were trying, esp Paraguay, who blew lots of chances, they were trying to attack, Colombia not so much. Still, 50 m of futsal with no goals is very unusual. Disappointing to see the arena was not even full with the home team playing.

With Brazil gone the draw opens up, with arguably the next best 2, Spain and Russia, drawn in quarters.

[The Ref]

That Brazil Iran game was great to watch. 

[TRM]

Huge upset for Iran to beat Brazil. The gesture from the Iranian players to a legend they all looked up to was very sweet.

The Kazak vs Spain game was close for most of it but Spain pull through late with a 5-2 win. Love to watch the Kazak keeper unload bombs from half way. Got them their first goal.

These are the types of games that got me hooked on the sport.

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Really enjoying this tournament, for me really refreshing to see different ways of playing the game.

Egypt upset Italy in extra periods, but I'm glad for it. So with Argentina 1-Ukraine 0, also into the extra periods, that is 5 of the 8 quarter finalists going through after drawing in regular time. 

Italy has played finals and semis in many WCs, so them out is a surprise. But they are literally half Brazilian, and I find their formula very cynical: you have this great footballing nation that has the key pieces of the team from Brazil, plays like a poorer version of Brazil, without the brilliance and spark, and falls like Brazil. Big guys, physical, playing with the target striker, and trying to bully their way through, rather than finesse or technique. Bitching to refs and diving a bit, don't like it. Would much prefer to see Italians dominating their team. Egypt rather poor in attack, countering, but gutsy in defence and very disciplined. 

Quarters, starting tonight, with the two best teams left drawn together, Spain-Russia. Unless Spain takes it, this tournament will see a first-time winner of the Futsal WC.

You cannot really say that any of these match-ups has an easy winner on paper.

Paraguay-Iran

Russia-Spain

Argentina-Egypt

Azerbaijan-Portugal

 

 

[TRM]

Last time out it was funny because both Russia & Italy had majority Brazilian players. In Italy's case I write it off to laziness and a desire for instant results. They do have the player pool to draw from so we shall see next time if they will have more Italians than Brazilians on their team.

Hoping for Spain at this point.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Russia knocks off Spain 6-2, deservedly, as Spain played with a very poor mentality. They were individualistic and poorly coached, and lost defensive coverage stupidly I've seen these guys play for their clubs and they are way better, here they acted arrogantly, like they could win by decree. And got slapped, after leading 2-1 they lost it. 

So the three strongest teams historically, Brazil, Italy and Spain, are all out. For me Russia is the clear favourite from now in.

In the other match, very close, Iran edged Paraguay. But Iran is a truly serious and professional futsal team with talent, flashiness, and bold on the field. I did not realize they have totally dominated in Asia. The Spanish language commentary on Eurosport, which is excellent (the British commentators are useless)  argued that after Brazil, Iran is the country in the world with the most kids playing futsal style on the street when young. That would suggest, that if the political and social questions were dealt with, Iran could also rival in 11 a side, if you could channel into clubs that many kids fanatically playing on asphalt.

[TRM]

3 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Iran is a truly serious and professional futsal team with talent, flashiness, and bold on the field. I did not realize they have totally dominated in Asia. The Spanish language commentary on Eurosport, which is excellent (the British commentators are useless)  argued that after Brazil, Iran is the country in the world with the most kids playing futsal style on the street when young. That would suggest, that if the political and social questions were dealt with, Iran could also rival in 11 a side, if you could channel into clubs that many kids fanatically playing on asphalt.

It will be interesting to see if Iran follows the trajectory of other futsal nations where it has translated into soccer players who deal with tight spaces effortlessly. They have a D1 with 16 teams and a D2 with 18 so lots of places for them to go.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Argentina easily handles Egypt, the weakest of the final 8, and Portugal struggles to take down Azerbaijan 3-2. They play one semi.

Frankly I think neither is as good as the teams playing the other semi, Russia vs. Iran. 

Any time a new winner emerges you have to happy for a sport, it is really healthy for it.

[TRM]

At this point I'll cheer for the team with the fewest Brazilians ;)

 

 

[Unnamed Trialist]

14 hours ago, TRM said:

At this point I'll cheer for the team with the fewest Brazilians

 

 

That is really not fair to Portugal, they can't help it really.

Seriously, Iran winning would be quite the thing.

[TRM]

4 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

That is really not fair to Portugal, they can't help it really.

Seriously, Iran winning would be quite the thing.

True and I think Argentina would never have a Brazilian just because they are such competitive neighbors. I think Iran could do it and that would be a great thing for the sport.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 minute ago, TRM said:

True and I think Argentina would never have a Brazilian just because they are such competitive neighbors. I think Iran could do it and that would be a great thing for the sport.

Funny how you can dislike a country for all kinds of things, but support it for others. I remember the famous Iran-US match in the France WC, which watched in a huge bar in Perpignan, France, that was amazing to watch this massive North African crowd support Iran. As I did too. And will here.

The first semis go tonight but at 2 AM our time, that is like 4 AM in Iran and Russia. I don't get it, even later times that for other rounds.

Same tomorrow. I cannot really handle these times, probably will have to watch a repeat if I see it might be worth it.

[TRM]

PVR has been my friend for these. I don't know why or what time it is in Columbia but sheesh without a PVR (or VHS for those old enough to remember it) I'd have missed most matches.

And the Russzilians defeat Iran 4-3. Argentina or Portugal will face them.

[TRM]

Argentina vs Russia in the final on Saturday. Should be a good one.

And the 3rd/4th place game between Iran & Portugal on the same day. I think this will be the better of the 2 matches.

[Unnamed Trialist]

I ended up watching the first half of Argentina-Portugal. They were drawn 1-1 mid first half, Portugal pushing and playing well--and Argentina hit with three quick goals, all well taken, and destroyed Portugal, who could not come back. 

I admit I am surprised as, without looking at rankings, I don't think Argentina is any higher than 8th in the world. But a very competitive consistent team with no complexes, and hard defence. Still, got to think that Russia is the favourite here. At least the Saturday finals are on at a reasonable time.

[TRM]

Russia with 2 late goals make it close but the blue and white stripes come through 5-4 to claim their first World Cup of Futsal. Nothing against Brazil and Spain but it is nice to see someone else win it.

Iran beats Portugal on penalties for 3rd place.