Futsal tactics growing up

The question of whether football coaches are forced into pragmatic thinking for fear of their jobs is always a live issue. And Vic Hermans, part of the technical study group at the UEFA European Futsal Championship, fears that the small-sided game is going the same way.

Pragmatic
Netherlands coach Hermans is a former player and one of the gurus of the game, and is helping to analyse the finals in Porto for UEFA's technical report. And with the tournament having begun with a rare 0-0 draw between Italy and Portugal, he wonders if that may become a more common scoreline. "Some things have changed," Hermans told uefa.com. "The coaches now prepare teams not to lose. Maybe it is also a dangerous path for futsal – should we make the game attractive or continue like this?"

Skill
That also has had an effect on the make-up of the teams, Herman believes. "You don't see as many skilful players, it is more combination play," he said. "There is a newcomer, [Marko] Perić of Serbia, a young guy at 22. He has an eye for a killer ball between two players, but the game is getting tighter. You saw England [in their UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier] on Wednesday, they lost 3-2 and the coach is out. Maybe if he put eleven players on the pitch to not go over the halfway line it would be different – what's best? So should futsal go one way or the other? I like a lot of goals, that for me is futsal. It is up to us which way we want to go."

Spanish maturity
As for the individual teams, Hermans has spotted a change in defending champions Spain, whose coach José Venancio replaced long-serving Javier Lozano in September. "I saw Spain defending in their own half for the first time against Russia and I was surprised," he said. "Is the quality going down or the new coach thinking another way? They are still a team of a very high standard. The players are a couple of years older and smarter, they don't attack all the time."

Russia enhanced
The team beaten by Spain two years ago in Ostrava, Russia, have added naturalised Brazilian-born duo Cirilo and Pelé Junior to their squad in 2007. "It has changed the way Russia plays," Hermans said. "They have two systems. They used to always play one-on-one, now they have Cirilo, the pivot, two Brazilians and two Russians in one bloc. Maybe it has changed their mentality. Ukraine have no Brazilians and play the same way for the whole game."

Developments
Of the other semi-finalists, Hermans praised Italy's young team but wonders if Portugal and their star player Ricardinho are still a few years from their peak. Hermans also said he was most impressed by Serbia of the four eliminated sides. But it is not just match analysis that Hermans is here for, he also relishes the chance to share his and fellow coaches' ideas with UEFA. "We had a round table discussion here [with all eight coaches] and I was satisfied, same as in Ostrava two years ago," he said. "Now in this tournament, some points we talked about back then have come to fruition."