Courtesy: Gulf Digital News


It’s a miracle

by Mazin Rizk

Fri, 06 Jan 2017

BAHRAIN beach soccer and Futsal coach Joao Almeida termed the Kingdom’s rapid rise at the international level a ‘miracle’ given the conditions prevailing at the moment.

“With the conditions we have at the moment, and how we are trying to do our best with what we are given, it is a miracle where the team has reached at the moment and we are happy about that,” said the 30-year-old Portuguese who currently resides in Bahrain with his wife and a 11-month old daughter.

Before his arrival in 2014, Bahrain’s beach soccer team was ranked 72nd worldwide. Presently they have moved up to 48th.

“Before 2009 there were a limited number of countries playing beach soccer. However, once Fifa took beach soccer under its umbrella, it became an important part of the game,” Almeida said.

“Bahrain was considered one of the top teams that time, but with the introduction of many new teams, they fell back, and my plan was to get them back on track,” he added.

When Almeida arrived, the national team’s average age was over 30. His first task was to bring that average age down.

“We wanted a young team for the future. So getting down the average age of the team was important. We worked on it and within a year it dropped to 28,” said Almeida who was coach of the Portuguese side Academia before coming to Bahrain.

Almeida’s immediate challenge is the Asian Cup to be held in Malaysia in March. The preliminary squad for that tournament currently consists of 27 players.

“Six of our 27 players are new and young. They have been called up because of their performance in the National Day Beach Soccer Tournament organised by Bahrain Football Association last month. It was the first official beach soccer competition in the Kingdom,” Almeida stated.

He also highlighted the importance of having a national league which improves conditions and offers a bigger pool of players.


Experience

“When you set up a national league, you will have more players to choose from a young age. The competition will give the players the experience of playing matches, which is something they lack at the moment,” added Almeida, who took up coaching after an injury when he was 17 cut short his playing career.

Bahrain took part in only 12 games last season, six official and the six friendlies while teams like Thailand took part in 22 games, he added.

He brushed away rumours that a national league would need more facilities to be built for the beach soccer teams.

“In Spain, Brazil and Portugal, which are considered strong competitors, teams are divided into regions and each region has one or two pitches to train on. Matches are played on a main pitch, so you do not need a separate pitch for each team,” he said.

Bahrain currently has three beach soccer pitches with the main one at the BFA headquarters in Riffa.

Malkiya Club and Sitra Club have their own fields which are used for practice sessions.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com