The football world had never seen a scoreboard like the one in Estádio Mineirão in Belo Horizonte, Brazil on the night of July 8, 2014: Germany 7, Brazil 1. It was the most goals ever scored in a FIFA World Cup semi-final and the worst defeat ever handed out in a game so close to the championship. Brazil had not lost a game in competition on its home turf since 1975. The entire country sunk into a state of shame.
But once the shock gave way to clear-eyed analysis, Brazilians came to conclude that their team, although unbeaten, was truly deficient on the defense-end. There was work to do, not excuses to make. By the time the 2016 Olympics rolled around in Rio De Janeiro the home crowd was thirsting not only for Brazil’s first ever Olympic gold medal in football but to somehow put the memories of World Cup failure behind them as well. Once again Brazil met Germany in the final and although it required a penalty shoot-out, the Brazilians checked off all of its redemptive boxes.
While still basking in Olympic glory, Brazilian footballers now have the opportunity to continue burnishing its comeback story with the FIFA Futsal World Cup. Brazil is the two-time defending champion in the five-man game. Of the seven World Cups previously played, Brazil has won five with Spain taking the crown in 2000 and 2004. As this year’s tournament gets under way in Colombia, bet365 sees Brazil continuing its winning ways in 2016 and has installed the Brazilians as strong 13/10 favorites.
【FIFA Futsal World Cup 2016 Tournament Winner Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: September 8, 3:00 p.m. (GMT)
Brazil will once again be led by Falcao who at the age of 39 could be experiencing his last go-round in World Cup competition. Falcao has been a member of the Brazilian national team since 1998 and has pounded home 339 goals in 201 games with his potent left foot. Many times he has been recognized as the World’s Best Futsal Player including in the World Cup tournament in 2004 and 2008. Falcao’s dazzling dribbling drives and flashy passes will be directed at familiar teammates: 32-year old Jeferson Luis Corrêa Carpes, known as Je, is back from the 2012 title team and so is 33-year old forward Fernando Nascimento Cosme. In fact, the youngest player on the experienced 14-man Brazilian squad is goalkeeper Gutta who celebrated his 29th birthday this summer.
In the knockout stage of the qualifying competition for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup in South America – the birthplace of futsal – Brazil romped through four games scoring 23 goals from nine different players while allowing only one. In the other side of the draw, Argentina also swept all four of its games with a goal differential of 18, 20-2. But when the two squads met in the finals it was no contest as Brazil skunked its traditional rivals, 4-0. Brazil is also three-time defending champion of the Grand Prix de Futsal. It will take a punter of strong conviction to go against Brazil in the Futsal World Cup with anything more substantial than an opinion. This is a team, after all, that once beat East Timor 76-0 in international competition.
Always ready for the Brazilian futsal challenge is Spain entering the World Cup with odds of 11/4. The Spaniards were the top-ranked team in the world in 2015 and dismissed Russia to win the UEFA Futsal EURO 2016 qualifying tournament 7-3. That was Spain’s seventh Euro championship in ten tries – a 20-year stretch in which the squad has only lost three games. Spain and Brazil have met in the finals of the last five Futsal World Cups and the Europeans do not bother to enter the Grand Prix de Futsal in Brazil. The one time they did, in 2010, the Spanish invaders unseated Brazil for the first time ever.
Spain has experienced World Cup players as well, most notably defender Carlos Ortiz and pivot Fernandão, but the bulk of the team is in their prime years in their twenties. As Spain continues to mix youth in with its familiar stars, it has compiled a formidable record of World Cup play this century of 26 wins, 2 losses and 4 draws. Both of those losses were by scores of 3-2. Spain and Brazil sit atop the sport and there is little to parse between them for bettors.
For those brave enough to risk money elsewhere, the class of the 24-country contenders come from Europe. Russia is the third-ranked team in the world and features 33-year old pivot Eder Lima who was the leading scorer in the 2012 World Cup in Thailand. Spain sent the Russians packing in that tournament and Russia has lost in the finals of the European championships every year since. If they can somehow find a way to amp up their big game performance Russia will reward backers at 9/2.
Italy has been lingering in the shadows of the Big Two for most of this century. Every now and then there is a European title and Italy was the last team other than Brazil and Spain to make a World Cup final, losing to Spain in 2004. This year’s World Cup squad has been re-booted with an infusion of youth in the scoring positions to complement battle-hardened defenders Marco Ercolessi, Sergio Romano, Grabriel Lima and tender Stefano Mammarella. If the formula works, an Italian surprise will pay 15/2.
From South America, Argentina and host Colombia are both listed at 33/1. Argentina has a long and unsatisfying history of being good enough to qualify for the World Cup every time and also never being able to advance past Brazil. They are ranked fifth in the world this time around and are the defending Copa America champions. The Colombians carry fewer futsal scars. This is only their second World Cup and in their coming-out party in 2012 they made the semi-finals. A championship in front of a frenzied home crowd would seem to be a stretch but they present a promising wager in individual matches.
Also intriguing to backers of unheralded teams in Colombia 2016 will be Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan has only qualified for the Futsal World Cup once, back in 2000 when many of today’s national team players were still in grade school. But this young group qualified for its first UEFA European Futsal Championship this year and took home the bronze medal including decisive victories over Italy and Serbia and nail-biting losses to Russia and Spain. Kazakhstan moved up to number nine in the world rankings and is a frisky long shot contender in Colombia at 14/1.
