Scoring for your team means one less player from the other team! This five-a-side footie challenge has now come to the city
Last year's Chilean winners pose with the trophy in Santiago
While Real Madrid’s epic loss to Barcelona at home is still alive and fresh in your memory, imagine a scenario where for each goal scored by Neymar, Suarez and Iniesta, a Rodrigues, Ronaldo or Bale would have to step out of the ground! That’s exactly what’s going to happen in the Redbull Winning 5. For the first time, five-a-side teams will go head to head in competing against each other in a knock out format where each goal scored will mean one less player in the opponent’s team!
After sweeping Turkey, France, Costa Rica, South Korea, Oman, and Hong Kong, the tournament has now started its maiden run in India and Bengaluru youngsters cannot wait for the city leg to begin in early December.
With no bar on gender when it comes to building teams, for most city college-goers, this is a chance to play a game they love with their friends in a cut-throat format that is as exciting as it is beguiling. 19-year-old Nishant Nandagopal is the captain of the Blue Oranges team. The Real Madrid fan who would prefer to maintain blanket silence on their last match says, “We are friends who have been playing for the longest time, so we took a break from the usual league matches when we saw the unique set-up here. We’ll be coming together from colleges across the city. For our name, however, we picked just about the most random thing that was.”
In fact, the naming game for this tournament’s teams is indeed as random as it gets. 21-year-old Rohann Mathew is the head of the city team of the Flying Ducks. The Manchester United fan says, “We kept changing our names and then one day over dinner, we just decided to stick to Flying Ducks. The idea of taking out an opponent with a goal is quite new and we are excited to try it out. We’ll have a player doubling as a goalkeeper and the last line of the defence, two defenders and two forwards.”
With the Bengaluru dates nearing, rehearsal matches have been on top of the players’ schedules. 20-year-old Balaji Bhat is the captain of the city team Streaksters. He says, “We’re all hostel mates and have always played football, so we will of course leave no stone unturned for the city leg. We do have a traditional format of playing which will have to be done away with in this case. We’ll be going without a goalkeeper and playing ahead at all times.”
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
( Source : deccan chronicle )
Next Story
