Courtesy: theoriginalcoach.com

Can the brilliant samba game of futsal improve an 11-a-side national team? We examine the impact of the sport so widely organised in Russia.

by Andrew Flint

Although Brazil are 2-1 up with only three minutes of injury time left, the tension is unbearable. They have been tested to the limit by their unfancied opponents Croatia, while the fans have been building up to a cacophonous crescendo of frenzied expectation for months.

Despite having run his slight frame into the ground, Oscar wasn't even meant to be in the starting lineup according to popular opinion. His clubmate Ramires, only on as a substitute a couple of minutes earlier, ferociously overpowers the Barcelona-bound playmaker Ivan Rakitiã in midfield, and our man collects the loose ball with Dejan Lovren and Vedran Ãorluka marshalling him. With no support, no energy and no urgency to press, Oscar does the complete opposite of what anyone expects him to do: fathoming up a superhuman reserve of adrenalin, he bursts past the flagging Lokomotiv Moscow centre-back, but is being shepherded by Liverpool's £20 million colossus. As the pair approach the edge of the area, he still doesn't have a clear sight of goal, but suddenly from nowhere he pings the ball from 25 yards with his toes past Stipe Pletikosa in the Croatian net.

Meanwhile, a couple years before, a flaky teenager with albino hair is lighting up the Sky Sports TV cameras on an otherwise dull day in the East Midlands. Will Hughes had only made his debut the season before and, at a mere 17 years of age, is already bossing the Derby midfield with the authority of a seasoned international. One moment stands out; not a mesmeric moment of magic, plentiful as they are, but a tackle.

Bryan Robson was the master of dispossession - he used to clinically roll the ball over his opponent's foot, rather than rely on pure brute force - but this was something else. Leeds United's David Norris has broken free around the centre circle and is carrying the ball dangerously towards the Derby penalty area. The familiar wisp of bleach glides effortlessly round him, keeping perfectly balanced, and a moment later, Norris realises he no longer has possession as Hughes has immaculately whipped the ball off his toes and is already stalking up field.

Both of these moments are linked to Russia and her grassroots future in the game - but how? It is not just that Pletikosa plays for FC Rostov, or that Hughes' appearance resembles that of a snow-white husky. The answer, in a word, is futsal.

Both men possess unimpressive physiques by modern standards, but they have a singular confidence in their mastery of the ball that was nurtured in the shorter form of the game. Oscar's late strike in this year's World Cup opening game was instantly branded as a 'toe-poke' in playgrounds all over England; the favoured power shot used by those less cultured members of school teams. That he managed to find the slimmest of gaps between the near post and the outstretched fingertips of Pletikosa was surely a fluke, wasn't it?

In fact, it showed a most fabulously economical use of energy - there was nothing fortuitous about the goal whatsoever, more that the wiry Brazilian had acquired the ability to strike accurately, powerfully, and with minimal back-lift from a youth spent developing ball skills playing futsal. As the Chelsea playmaker himself told the FIFA website: "That's right, it was a real toe-poke - Romario style! In that situation anything goes. Most of the lads in our team used to play futsal and we learned to strike it with our toes. [Due to cramp in my legs] it was the only option I had left."

The burst of speed, the close control and the vision to see an opening that nobody else did has all been honed through years of practice. Hughes, meanwhile, has been bossing men nearly twice his age for the last two seasons in one of Europe's most competitive leagues, drawing praise from his England under-21 coaches for his maturity. Undoubtedly his development owes a lot to his strength of character, but his confidence is rooted in a genuine self-belief that can only come from a technique built on ball skill and vision.

This instinctive, relentless attacking philosophy is the blueprint on which Russia is basing the upbringing of its youth. As Germany's breathtakingly simple but effective brand of modern pressing football reaped the benefits of over a decade of careful planning in Brazil, Russia's national team, the finest 11 players from a nation of 143 million people, was pathetically limping towards an early exit in what should have been a simple group containing South Korea and Algeria. If truth be told, their performances bore all the signs of an overly-regimented and restricted Fabio Capello national side - it was impossible to ignore the striking resemblance to England's horrendous campaign in South Africa four years ago. Ageing stalwarts are no longer dependable, and there are not many young stars that look to have the verve and vigour of the class of 2008. So what must be done?

One of the answers may already be well established in the country's sports system. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Russian Futsal Superleague was established in 1991 with the intention of pooling together some of the finest technical players across the country in a format that would be protected from the simple obstacle of harsh winters.

The USSR had always boasted a whole host of technically advanced 11-a-side players from Oleg Blokhin to Igor Netto and Igor Belanov, as well as legendary coaches such as Valeriy Lobanovskiy, so talent was never likely to be the problem, despite an alarming drain of the core of the late 1980s side to represent their newly formed republics. While the early years of the Russian Premier League struggled to cope with the loss of swathes of players, substandard pitches and poor attendances, the Futsal Superleague survived. Admittedly sixteen of the first seventeen titles were won by Moscow teams, but representatives from all over the sprawling land took part. The early nineties saw Portugal and Spain create similar centrally-run incarnations, but Russia beat France and Germany by nearly two decades in formally setting up their futsal structure.

Sasha Kutuev is an amateur footballer from Nizhniy Tagil who was once on the books of 2008 UEFA Futsal Cup winners MFK Sinara Ekaterinburg as a youth player, and he believes the shorter form of the game can provide the ideal preparation for a career in the longer. "When I was with Sinara," he said, "I trained with Dmitry Arapov, but he transferred to FK Ural Ekaterinburg [who were promoted to the Premier League last season]. He is now third choice keeper, but he has a really good chance to make a career as a professional."

Sasha plays in the highly competitive Tyumen city futsal league system, but also plays for his company in 11-a-side when the weather permits. The culture of competitive sport at amateur level is deeply ingrained in the Russian way of life; there is no shame in a former youth team prospect at one of Russia's leading futsal clubs only playing in the second tier of a city league system. "My team play in the Vyshaya Liga (higher league)," he explained, "which is a really good experience, because some former professionals play at this level. Some people are not professional, but have trained with MFC Tyumen II (the professional team's reserves) so have a very high standard." Tyumen has its own Superleague, then the higher league, below which lie a further four divisions, with each league containing 15 teams.

This healthy appetite for playing means the following of professional futsal is strong. MFC (Mini Football Club) Tyumen was formed in 1999 and has gone on to become a major player in the Superleague, finishing as runners-up to Sasha's old club Sinara five seasons ago. Their stadium, right in the centre of the city, hosted the national team against Iran last year which sold out in a matter of hours, and the Russian Futsal Cup final against Dynamo Moscow five years ago.

Ivan Milovanov is a 24-year-old Russian international who plays for the club alongside his national teammate and old school friend Nikolay Perevertsev, and he believes the popularity of the sport lies in its fast-paced nature. "Futsal is a very dynamic sport with no lengthy attacks or rolling the ball in midfield. There are lots of goals, there is intrigue. Until the last seconds is not clear who will win."

Milovanov's coach last season was the Brazilian 2012 World Futsal Cup-winning manager Marcos Sorato, who told blueprintforfootball.com these demands of the game help foster some key qualities essential in all forms of football. "Without a doubt I would say quick thinking, fast decision making, a higher demand of technique to solve problems in small spaces,” he said last year when highlighting the key attributes in a successful futsal player. “It helps the player to think about the game and to learn how to defend and attack. The player needs to be complete.”

The presence of foreigners, and in particular Brazilians, has piqued interest in Russian futsal at club and international level, but has become a controversial issue. Sorato was released in June after only one season when the club's board of directors decided to employ only Russian coaches and players, meaning his fellow countrymen Ferrao, voted the world's best young player last year, goalkeeper Greuto, 2010 Russian Superleague player of the year Afranio, and 20-year-old forward Felipe followed him out of the door.

In today's socio-political climate, it is not a comfortable move from one perspective, but perhaps an understandable one, as Kutuev explains. "Many futsal teams can't spend a lot of money and the players just go to Moscow. The budget of MFC Tyumen is lower, so the administration of the club decided to only have young Russian footballers who came from the academy system." Sorato was the highest paid coach in the Superleague last season, and even within the cut-throat world of football, Russian directors are known for having very limited patience. Alexander Popov, the president of MFC Tyumen, is also president of FC Tyumen, and last summer fired Evgeniy Durnev from his position as manager of the 11-a-side outfit because he "failed to meet the agreed targets", despite building a balanced squad who were one win away from promotion.

Identity might be another factor in this change of policy. Milovanov was full of praise for Sorato and his influence when we spoke after the MFC Tyumen vs. Politekh St Petersburg match last week, but highlighted the differences between his style of coaching and current manager Evgeniy Osintsev's. "I really enjoyed working with Sorato. He is well experienced, a well-organized coach. I am always interested in working with foreign experts. He brought us knowledge of Brazilian and Spanish futsal [Sorato spent 15 years in Spain, 13 as a player and two as a coach]. Russian coaches have their own model of training. The emphasis is on physical exercises, rather than tactical exercises. I think Evgeniy Osintsev gained a lot of experience from Marcos Sorato. This will help him as head coach." The stunning 7-3 thrashing of Nikel Norilsk in August was a breathtaking performance that demonstrated the stamina that Milovanov talks about, as MFC Tyumen's young players tirelessly ran for each other all game.

At club level, the capital-based Dina Moscow, Dynamo Moscow and KPRF (the Communist Party of the Russian Federation team) all have Brazilian players in their squads; in fact, only four teams, including MFC Tyumen, do not have foreigners. Dynamo Moscow has seven players, a manager, three coaches and even a physio from the samba nation. The high representation runs through to naturalised members of the national team with Cirillo, Pulo, Eder Lima, Robinho and Gustavo all in the current Russian national squad, all of which begs the question: are Russians not good enough? "It's a very hard question," Milovanov replied. "Such issues are decided by the management of the national team. Brazilians are currently stronger than Russians – that's why they came to our team. In the team we do not divide the players into friends and foes. We are family. This is a management decision and we must accept it. If young Russian players can progress, they will replace anyone."

There is an undeniable cache attached to seeing Brazilians on any pitch, but especially in a format where pure ball-skills and speed are essential. During the 90s, the Russian Premier League's floodgates opened as countless Latin Americans and Africans arrived on inflated salaries in the larger form of football and, as interest dwindled, clubs were left to filter out the chaff from the wheat. A certain level of mistrust in foreigners gradually seeped into the psyche of owners that has not completely vanished from the game today, although there are positive steps being made by fan movements such as #CSKAFansAgainstRacism.

The integration of Brazilians into the Russian futsal setup is no flash in the pan, no publicity stunt like Gerard Depardieu's fast-track visa that Vladimir Putin personally handled. The more experienced "legionnaires" such as Cirillo and Pulo have resided in Russia for nearly a decade and have brought the national team tantalisingly close to success - Russia have made five of the nine finals since the European Championships were created, winning once in 1999, and three semi-finals of the last five World Cups. These near-successes have ensured the outsiders have always been welcome in the inner circle of the public's conscience. It is not all about the marquee foreigners though - this summer Russia won the University World Cup hammering Brazil 8-5 in the final, so there is sure to be an influx of home-grown talent coming through.

Can the two forms of the game not just co-exist, but thrive off one another? Can actual tangible results validate the championing of futsal as a key ingredient in the development of 11-a-side players? The short answer is yes, even if it will require that most valuable of commodities in the modern game: patience. There is already some proof in the pudding though, as Kutuev points out. "You know Oleg Shatov (pictured)? He is from my city, Nizhny Tagil, and he trained at Sinara for one or two seasons before turning to 11-a-side. He started from futsal, and now he is a part of the Russian national team, and is a really good footballer. In general, for me futsal is a good way to start, for all forms of football, not just futsal itself." Dmitry Torbinsky is another futsal graduate with full international honours, the zenith of his career being his extra-time goal against the Netherlands as Russia knocked out the oranje in the quarter-final of Euro 2008.

Perhaps the last word on the matter should go to the man who has conquered the world, Marcos Sorato. "Spain and Russia already have great and competitive leagues. England is starting to have interest but is small compared to other leagues. The popularity among the youth is growing. Many are looking to use futsal to form future football players. It doesn't coach the offside rule, but they can learn this when they transition to football. [Futsal and 11-a-side] have coexisted in Brazil for over 30 years now. Many talented football players have come from futsal."






Posted by Mico Martic --> mico.martic@futsalplanet.com