RIO DE JANEIRO—Sacre bleu!
World No. 1 Brazil put the samba flavor back in futsal, dancing their way to a 6-2 victory over France at the highly controversial start of the best-of-41 series for the Fifa World Futsal Championship Tuesday night at the Club de Seis50 here.
Antonio set the tone for the Brazilian charge with a goal right in the first minute and a brilliant save sandwiched by two more strikes by Lorenzo in the 12th and 15th minutes to break the backs of the Les Bleus in the first game of the series.
“One down, 20 to go,” said Antonio, the Brazilian captain. “We wanted to get off to a good start and we got it.”
Completing the rout in what French newspapers have started to label as the “Scourge of Les Bleus” were Rhandinho (25th), Kato (33rd) and Antonio again (38th).
“We said at the start that they were going down and that’s exactly where they went,” said Kato.
So fluid were the Brazilians that the French were dazed even after the game and had a tough time fielding questions by reporters as to what happened to the defensive discipline that took them this far into the World Championships.
“Je ne sais pas (I don’t know),” said France skipper Zhem Mont Majeur. “We are a very good defensive team and tonight, it just didn’t show. But it’s the first game only. It’s a long way to go.”
“I keep telling my teammates, ‘vas-y!’ (go!) but obviously something was missing,” added the French captain. “We just have to regroup tout de suite (at once).”
Indeed, something was missing. Video replays later showed that Brazil played with seven players while France was just limited to six players.
“Mon dieu!,” blurted out French midfielder Cyril Bon Aventez. “That’s unfair, n’est-ce pas (isn’t it?)? We really were hurt by that extra man because they had a spare defender every time we had the ball on our side of the floor.”
Game 2 is Monday at the Le Club le650 beside the Champs Elysees.
Amid a boisterous Brazilian home crowd that played the samba music, the game started rather tentatively with both sides showing signs of pressure. Antonio broke the ice and drove the 60,000-strong audience crazy, but Brazil had to endure tense moments when France tied the game courtesy of a curling 12-yard blast by Mont Majeur.
France starting goalkeeper Catherine MCMLXIII made a series of key saves until two rushing goals by Lorenzo broke the French backs.
In a classic battle against the offensive-minded Brazilians and the defensively-brilliant French, offense won as the Les Bleus sorely missed the presence of central defender Andreaz Perez, who was serving out a one-game ban after getting red-carded in an exhibition match in La Union.
The French made Dianne Ville Fuertez handle the defensive chores and she had her hands full against Brazilian MVP midfielder Teresa, who let her teammates take charge in scoring and concentrated on setting up plays for her team.
And even when Catherine was substituted in the middle of the match by lanky keeper Jean Lestierre de Masigagne, the French fell prey to continuous offensive pressure by Kato and Rhandinho, and a Brazilian line that obviously had a spare kicker to confuse the French defense.
With the extra player, Brazil managed to pull off constant double teams on the defensive end with right back Alexa and left back Padiernos constantly harassing Bon Aventez, who could not get any of her trademark crosses going to the French forwards.
Alexa and Padiernos also did their share in cutting through the French passing lanes and disrupting attempts by France to move the ball forward.
About the only thing that spoiled a perfect samba night for Brazil was the fact that they were one-up in manpower.
“Zut alors (darn it), there were obviously moments when we wished the officials would pull out red cards because of the manpower violation,” said enraged striker Francois Ochoa, a Frenchman of Cebuano descent who capped scoring with a rushing goal in extra time. “Piro unsa-on man nato bai. Diri man mi sa Brazil ga-duwa. Ang ako lang, lig-on na gani kayo sila, naa pa gyud sila’y subra na tao. Pastilan gi atay, alkansi ayo mi oi.”
Actually, France tried to protest at the start of the game, but a Brazilian mob threatened to throw broken beer bottles that were like batutas with knives to the court.
“Anyway, we still had our chances but we blew them. We had a mauvais quart d’heure (uncomfortable moment) early in the first half and our defense gave up too many goals to their overloaded offense so, you know, c’est la vie,” said Ville Fuertez.
Perez is expected to beef up the defense for France in Game 2, while Rissa Katrina, who missed Game 1 with a foot injury, is still doubtful for next week. AFP
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