Given that I have started threads on the women's national team and most youth teams, I thought I'd be remiss if I didn't include a thread about Italy's successful futsal (indoor soccer) team. Italy is the defending European champion and is currently preparing for next month's FIFA World Championships in Taiwan. The tournament begins on Nov 21. Italy's group opponents are the United States, Japan and Paraguay.
In February, Italy will try to defend its European championship with group games vs Portugal, Hungary and Spain (the current world champions).
Futsal - called "Calcio a 5" in Italy - is moderately popular in Italy with competitions in Serie A, A2 and B divisions, a U-21 league, a women's league, as well as national cups for each division.
www.divisionecalcioa5.it
2003 European champions
http://www.divisionecalcioa5.it//galleria_original/0779.jpg
A 3-2 loss to Slovenia today. Doesn't bode well as Slovenia didn't even qualify for the world championships. The two teams meet again on Saturday.
Italy defeated the Czech Republic 3-0 today to win their second stage group and reach Friday's semifinals. Italy will face Argentina while Brazil plays Spain in the other semi.
World Futsal Champion Spain, no less, beaten by ITALY Futsal NT!
Italy vs Spain!
European final all over again!
2-1 to Itay then, wouldn't be bad to be world champions.
FUTSAL is real fun to play, that ball makes your control seem amazing!
Yes, his older not-quite-as-talented brother. Nice to see he's found a niche in indoor ball.
Final score from today's opening match:
Supra United Soccer Club::
without their help there wouldnt be an affordable house league program Winter 2008/09 competitive and rep and Futsal teams playing in various leagues.
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Italy 6 USA 3
Sounds like it was a close game to the very end:-
http://www.fifa.com/en/news/feature/0,1451,104077,00.html?articleid=104077
Did anybody see the game? Italy's keeper weighs something like 250 pounds! It's incredible. He looks like an undersized (in this day and age) offensive lineman! Voyageurs Soccer Talk (Page 412 )::
Italian clubs are pretty resilient and hate missing out too long on European Thanks, guys (nt). ray, Mar 20, 2001. futsal is the FIFA sanctioned version
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Italy beat Argentina 7-4 to reach the championship game where they'll meet - not Brazil - but Spain, who won the other semifinal on PKs. Final game is Sunday.
Italy has two more friendlies this week, both vs Slovenia. The first one will be shown live on RAISport Thursday at 3 pm EST.
Hadn't kept up with this - Italy beat Paraguay 4-2 in their final group C match to win the group. In their second phase group, they are matched with 3 European teams - Spain, Portugal, and the Czech Republic.
Yesterday, they drew 0-0 with Portugal. It's a very rare score in futsal! Today, they beat Spain 3-2 in a game they really had to win.
BTW, their big (fat) keeper sprained his ankle in yesterday's match and is probably out for the tournament.
Yes, apparently the Italians celebrated as if they'd won the tournament. But I think it's mainly because, after only drawing vs Portugal, they really needed the victory. Italy is European champion, after all, and current world #1, so it wasn't that huge of an upset. Also, keep in mind, that only 2 members of the team were born in Italy - most are naturalized Brazilians.
Isn't Jamar Beasley DeMarcus Beasley's brother?
Much better performance for the Azzurri yesterday as they beat Slovenia 7-0.
http://www.divisionecalcioa5.it/leggi.asp?id=1653
The squad for the world championships gets announced tomorrow.
Yeah, i watched the whole game. They're goalie is so fat, he coverst he whole net. But he was making a lot of diving saves. I think he's Italy's beach soccer goalie too. The spanish announcers called him "Il Gordito" (the fat guy)
during the game.
Interesting to note that only 2 of the above roster (Angelini and Zaffiro) were actually born in Italy. The others are naturalized Brazilians!
Anyway, some articles at FIFA -
Interview with Italian head coach Alessandro Nuccorini
http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/index/0,2442,103957,00.html?comp=Futsal&year=2004&articleid=103957
Interview with American player Jamar Beasley (who was briefly with Serie C club Putoleana a couple years back)
http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/index/0,2442,104002,00.html?comp=Futsal&year=2004&articleid=104002
I love playing futsal. I almost prefer it to outdoor soccer because, at least at the level I play these days, there is more emphasis on accurate passing and ball control than there is outside.
Italy shut out Japan in their second group match, 5-0. Final group match is Thursday vs Paraguay. BTW, the second round is another group stage.
Italy beat Croatia today in one of their final tune-ups for the World Championships:
http://www.divisionecalcioa5.it/leggi.asp?id=1643
Here is Italy's squad for the tournament:
ANGELINI Gianfranco
AS Rome c/5, ITA 21/07/1974 178 105 GK
2 GRANA
Playas de Castellon, ESP 26/08/1979 176 74 MF
3 PELLEGRINI
MRA Gvtarra Xota, ESP 16/12/1975 177 75 DF
4 MONTOVANELI
AS Rome c/5, ITA 13/09/1973 175 69 MF
5 ZAFFIRO Salvatore
Brillante Roma, ITA 22/09/1969 173 70 DF
6 BERTONI Edgar
Erregi Travel Perugia, ITA 24/07/1981 179 80 MF
7 BACARO Vinicius
AS Rome c/5, ITA 20/08/1978 181 81 FW
8 VICENTINI Andre
Seep Luparense, ITA 17/06/1977 175 72 MF
9 FABIANO
AS Rome c/5, ITA 05/01/1980 176 76 MF
10 FOGLIA Adriano
Arzignano Grifo, ITA 25/04/1981 169 66 FW
11 MORGADO
Citta di Montesilvano, ITA 19/06/1981 174 66 FW
12 FELLER Alexandre
Prato c/5, ITA 28/09/1971 178 79 GK
13 ZANETTI Sandro
Playas de Castellon, ESP 20/01/1976 179 79 FW
14 BERTONI Rodrigo
Leghe Leggere Napoli, ITA 01/12/1978 176 75 MF
Italy's first group game vs the USA will be shown on Galavision in the US, on Sunday Nov 21 at 8 pm EST (14-hour delay).
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