In Tokyo, the small-sided game is Futsal with a Samba slant. The Brazilian game has long influenced the Japanese football fan. It’s all about the ball and what you can do with it. In fact in some games you’ll find that physical contact is banned. Beat your opponent with a trick show off your quick feet with a turn. While the work ethic that Tokyo’s residents live by is evident on the city’s pitches, there is also a desire to create and inspire. Having hosted the 2002 big finale, Tokyo was the centre for white-hot football fever and whilst the global eleven-a-side game is huge, those who want to play want to play Futsal. In fact, where else in the world would you find a Futsal game being played at midnight on the roof of a department store? It’s mad, it’s Tokyo. Space is tight and lives are busy but the locals have found time to embrace the small-sided game in a big way. Nowhere in the world does hustle and bustle like Tokyo. After identifying the regional nuances of small-sided football throughout the world, Nike has designed its most versatile small-sided shoe, the Nike5 Gato Street. The differences and nuances of how the game is played in its different locations are evident but so is one key factor, a devotion and infatuation for their version of the sport. In Barcelona the game is about beautiful patterns, in Rio it is all about individual trickery. Fly into Rio de Janeiro airport and you’ll see a small pitch adjacent to the runway, walk through the urban sprawl of London of an evening and you’ll hear the deafening crash of man and ball against the fenced pitches that symbolize the uniquely robust English game. The global appeal of the small-sided game is truly astonishing. In 1930’s Uruguay and Brazil, locals had started what would become a full-blown love affair with football, but due to a lack of open space in their overpopulated cities, a variant of football that could be played simply requiring less space was created. It was because of space – or rather a lack of it – that players had to take the full-size game and shrink it down to smaller teams and smaller versions of the game. Finding a teammate in space, creating space for yourself and creating space for others. Nike introduces the Nike5 Gato Street, a sneaker designed specifically for small-sided football.įootball in any form is about space.
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