“You cannot understand the moment that the Spanish national team is going through” | Relief

Alessandro Rosa Vieira, Falcao, is one of the most authoritative voices in world futsal and that is why he should always be listened to. He was one of FIFA’s star guests at the tenth World Cup in Uzbekistan and experienced Brazil’s title and defeat to Spain first-hand. During his stay in Madrid on his way to Palma to watch the Intercontinental Cup, the Brazilian star touched on all the hot topics of futsal, such as the level of play, rule changes, the contentious relationship between Iran and France or the utopian Olympic future. exclusive interview with Relevo.

After a 12-year drought, Brazil won the World Cup again and Falcao witnessed the match first-hand at the foot court of the Humo Arena in Tashkent, along with other VIP guests such as Spaniard Javi Rodriguez and Argentine Javier Saviola. The Brazilian star assured that “Despite previous defeats, Marquinhos Xavier worked for seven or eight years and many of his calls were questioned, but he followed what he believed in, and that is the key thing for a coach – to follow what you believe in. “And it worked, and it is very important for Brazilian futsal and the players to become champions again.”

Falcao’s six-time league title is “a title that will give confidence to work for the next four years, but it will always be Brazil because Brazil exports a lot.” In other countries the number of players is limited, but in Brazil there are those who play domestically, in Spain, in Portugal, in Italy. “Brazil can field three or four competitive teams and in any World Cup they attend they will always be one of the favorites, but we must prepare for what will happen,” he warned.

Regarding the level of play offered by the national teams, Falcao makes it clear that “today we see Argentina reaching three World Cup finals, Portugal becoming champions, Brazil becoming champions again, but the games are different. “The level is different, this is not a criticism of the players, quite the opposite, times are different, we had many more stars in other teams, today there are much fewer of them.” and wanted to clarify that “it’s not the players’ fault, I think these are special generations, that’s why we say that our generation was special, so I’m very grateful to all the players who played with me and all my opponents too: the opponents made us great “

Spain occupies a special place in this rivalry, which almost 20 years ago took away two World Cups in Guatemala 2000 and Taiwan 2004. “It was a very strong rivalry, this foul limit, this fighting limit, it was very positive, and in my generation we experienced it intensely. I have the greatest respect and believe that the Spaniards have helped us grow a lot, that was very important to me,” he said, lamenting that “today we don’t have that anymore. When Brazil-Spain was about to meet, the world stopped. The fact that Brazil lost in 2000 was good for futsal, for us it was of course bad, but for futsal it was very good. Seeing Spain and Italy reach the final in 2004 helped other teams see that things can change too.”

From all these battles, Falcao explained that “being in Uzbekistan, I remembered many stories with Javi Rodriguez about how important this rivalry was. I played in the Brazil-Spain derby for 20 years and there was never a match with a difference of more than one goal.” 20 years, 2-1, 1-0, 2-2, penalties, extra time and there were magic moments and that’s it, I don’t see it anymore and it’s bad” and stated that “I saw the World Cup, and again, this is not a criticism of the players, this is the time, but They no longer have this rivalry in the dressing room, this rivalry in the tunnels, I miss it, I go to the dressing room, I look at the Spaniard, the Spaniard doesn’t say hello, the Brazilian doesn’t say hello, when it’s time to say hello before the game, grimacing, that’s it. It was very good, but unfortunately there is no such thing anymore.

By chance or fate, while walking along Gran Via in Madrid, Falcao happened to meet the legendary former goalkeeper Jesus “El Pajaro” Claveria. “I was walking down the street, we were hugging each other and reminiscing stories, remembering the rivalry, it’s very good,” he said. The Brazilian star also praised former coach Javier Lozano, whom he will meet again in Palma to attend the Intercontinental. “He is my friend and recommendation. We got to know each other better at an event in 2016 before the World Cup, where we played a FIFA All-Star match against host nation Colombia, featuring Andreu, Quique Boneda, Javi Sanchez or Julio García Mera. We were going to lose by 10, but we ended up winning,” he recalls with a smile.

Over the years, the rivalry gave way to respect “for all those players that we talked about, I didn’t mention the others either, but they were very important, like Daniel Ibáñez, like Orol, looking back, the eternal captain Julio, so to all these players from Brazil, I don’t even need to mention them, they were my teammates, but I am very grateful to Lozano for what he has done for Spanish futsal,” and added that “for me, when he leaves the Spanish national team, he loses a little shine.”

In Uzbekistan, the Spanish team was eliminated in the 1/8 finals of the World Cup against Venezuela, to the surprise of Falcao. “Spain is going through difficult times and this is reflected in the results. When would you have imagined that Spain would be left out of the World Cup because of Venezuela? With all due respect to Venezuela, who played a great game and deservedly won, but this was not an accident; Venezuela played very well. However, you can’t imagine Venezuela knocking Spain out of the World Cup. This is very bad for futsal, the Brazilians, speaking for myself, wanted to see the Brazil-Spain semi-final, everyone wanted to see the classics.”

Falcao distinguished the Spanish failure from the Portuguese Iberian failure at the last World Cup. “Portugal have become a very competitive team, they lost to Kazakhstan in a difficult game against a well-coached team, but like Brazil they are a team that can form two competitive teams and have a great team. Portugal could have gone far at the World Cup if they had not met Kazakhstan at the wrong moment. “This match was very similar to our match against Iran in 2016: wrong team at the wrong time,” he explained.

For this reason, “O Rei do Futsal” clearly states that “given the league they have and the link to Spain, you cannot understand the moment that the Spanish futsal team is going through and we, futsal lovers, hope that it will happen.” decidedI don’t know much about politics and domestically, but Spain needs to take action on this issue so that at the next World Cup Spain can finish in the top four. They are two-time world champions, reached the World Cup final several times, for us futsal fans, I said so, I saw a great match between Brazil and Ukraine, but I really wanted to see Brazil-Spain, and I didn’t. i.e. I could, so my feeling is certainly the feeling of many.

In Spain’s case, a rule change introduced by the Spanish Federation to allow kick or arm serves was heavily criticized in Brazil and Falcao condemned it. “It was a step back. We talk a lot about Olympic futsal and each country plays differently. Portugal plays differently, Spain plays differently, Brazil plays differently, so I think we’re going back to something that already existed and that’s already been there.” were eliminated for the better, so when I change the rule, I’m not saying whether it’s good or bad, but you can’t play by different rules.” and recommended that “Spain as a power should follow FIFA rules” as he revealed that “this option is confusing for players who should focus on improving their kicking skills rather than adapting to different rules.” I’m not going to name names here, but the players who play here consider this absurd.

Without fearing anything, Falcao also expressed his opinion on FIFA’s choice of Lithuania or Uzbekistan as host cities for the 2021 and 20024 World Cups. “I think the elections have moved a little away from the great powers, and there is a taste for countries that sometimes football never comes, and then beach football, futsal comes. Promoting futsal in these countries is good for this country, but not for futsal. “I think it is bad for futsal to be in remote places where there is no strong competition or tradition.”

He hasn’t forgotten FIFA and its controversial advertising with a poster full of soccer stars like his friend Neymar.“He made the mistake of promoting futsal with footballers. There are many famous figures in futsal and it would be better to include both disciplines. Then FIFA took, for example, Saviola, who has a history and loves futsal, left football and continued to play futsal. He’s a well-known figure, but they could have mentioned both sports from the start,” and added that “the coverage that followed was good, that first bit was a misstep, but then they did a great job on social media.” “

Another scandal at the World Cup in Uzbekistan was the match between Iran and France, with complaints about possible match-fixing. Falcao was blunt: “It was a big blur. I respect strategy, and strategy can be created to choose the best path. I’m not against the strategy, I’m against the way it was done.” The whole world is watching you and you pretend to shoot high, they were bad actors. The goalkeeper missed the ball and it was the match everyone wanted to see to see the strength of Iran against the new arrival from France. The way it happened was very ugly. “You can, for example, reserve players and put a team with less experience, if you lose, you lose, but they covered up the mistakes and it looked very bad.”

Finally, Falcao also touched on futsal’s unlikely Olympic future and confirmed that FIFA sent a letter to the IOC “last year to which I received no response” and that after a meeting in Uzbekistan, which “I went to with high expectations and the FIFA team was very honest with me, the IOC works with 10,500 people, including athletes and technical teams, and for futsal participation, the IOC wants to reduce the number of people from 10,500 to 9,800–10,000 people. In futsal or beach soccer you add 15 players, but you. 25 are needed, and with ten teams this is an increase of 500 people. The great Olympic powers do not have futsal, so countries like China, the USA or Cuba are not interested in futsal. “I see that futsal will only appear if football appears, which the IOC does not want.”

“FIFA was honest with me: I thought they didn’t want futsal at the Olympics, but FIFA thinks it will make the sport more popular. Participation in the Olympic Games allows us to attract new audiences to watch the Futsal World Cup. FIFA has made it clear that the IOC has a limited number of members and in order for futsal or beach soccer to be included, other sports must leave. Breakdancing, for example, came and then went, but it is just one person, not a team. “It took away my motivation to become an Olympic sport,” he concluded.