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| Xavi loves futsal and Spain's national team |
Xavi follows Spain’s futsal team in Euro 2012. In an interview he has praise for the sport’s qualities.
Highlights, Russia 4 – Croatia 2, 2012 Euro Futsal Championship semifinals. Not the greatest video quality, but Russia’s ball movement is much smoother than Croatia’s, which seems a bit mechanical. Both Croatia goals – the hosts recovered from a 4-0 deficit – might’ve been stopped to preserve a clean sheet.
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| Ricardinho is resourceful for Portugal and Benfica |
Ricardinho, one of the world’s best futsal players – second only, perhaps, to Falcao, flicks a beautiful goal over Azerbeijan’s goalie in a 4-1 Portugal win. Notice how quickly he sees the opportunity and reacts. Combine that with his technique and the result is a highlight goal.
When two teams combine for 17 goals in a EURO tournament game, highlights are going to take five-plus minutes. That’s the case here in Serbia’s 9-8 win over Azerbeijan. Notice how Azerbeijan brings its goalie into the attack late in the game and scores two goals to narrow the margin. The tactic eventually costs the losers a goal as a Serbian shoots into an empty net.
The Euro quarterfinal between Italy and Portugal offers lots of scoring chances – but some exceptional goalkeeping. When Italy breaks through to score the first goal, it’s an own goal, the result of a blameless effort to clear by Portugal defender Arnaldo of Benfica. Check out the set up pass from Portugal’s No. 9 to Richardinho. His quick change of direction and passing touch are beautiful.
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| Falcao is, well, Falcao |
And now, for the gratuitous Falcão portion of the program … a highlight video from www.insideworldsoccer.com. Great production value, even though the quality of the action segments is uneven. There’s nothing that compares to Falcão’s ingenuity with the ball. The introductory art work and music are ideal packaging for the master.
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