Barcelona, Brazilians and more – Scottish youth futsal side Joga took them all on at the recent World Futsal Cup.
It’s not just any side who get the opportunity to take part in the tournament run by US company United Futsal. Entry criteria is high and tournament organisers must be convinced your club is worthy of being there.
Joga did just that, victory in the summer at the Montesilvano Futsal Cup in Italy helping matters along too.
And their impressive 2008/09 age group proved Joga’s worth in Barcelona.
Kicking off with defeat to Japanese side Pescadola Machida wasn’t ideal but it was followed up by a good win over Brazilian select side Semel Futsal Brazil to set up a crucial clash with giants of the futsal and football world, Barcelona.
Joga head coach David Galt said: “It’s really important in these competitions to start well but we didn’t quite show how good we can be in that first game.
“Then playing a team from Brazil, there was a bit of nervousness about us. They had only lost to Barcelona 2-1 so they were a strong team.
“But we were 2-0 up after three minutes and then 4-2 up before it went 4-4 at half-time.
“We were looking good, though, and scored with two minutes to go for 7-6 and held out.
“So that meant we needed a result against Barcelona.
“The guys were excited to be playing against one of the biggest clubs in the world but they were making the joke ‘play the game, not the name’ before the match.
“And they started really confidently, we went 1-0 up and should have been further in front.
“We were by far the better side but they scored just before half-time for 1-1.
“Then a sloppy second went in and it then went 3-1 and ended 6-1.
“It was a harsh scoreline and didn’t reflect the fact we more than competed.”
'Real learning experience'
That left Joga in third spot, alongside Pescadola Machida and Semel Futsal Brazil on three points, and saw them move into the silver bracket in the latter stages of the competition.
Dordoi Futsal from Kyrgyzstan were dispatched 7-1 before a real learning curve against Spaniards Futsal Mataro in the final.
“Comfortably the best side we faced, they were extremely good,” Galt admitted.
“We couldn’t get close to them, couldn’t get out when we had the ball and just kept giving it back.
“But we went 1-0 up on the counter!
“We lost 2-1 and it was a real learning experience for the boys.
“That’s a club who train three nights a week at futsal – we can only do 90 minutes on a Sunday each week – and they play in a Spanish national youth league.
“This was the first time this team had all been together since our trip to Italy in the summer.”
He added: “The whole trip was a big learning experience for everyone and a massive benefit to Joga.
“Just being exposed to the high levels of futsal on show, playing against high quality opposition and just seeing some of the other games on show was great.
“We were a team of a bunch of kids from Glasgow and they got to play Barcelona and beat a Brazilian team – what a great learning experience that is!”
Joga’s youth sides have more trips planned this year as they head to Paris in February before a tournament organised by Inter Movistar in March followed by a trip to Portugal in July.
The club’s senior side are enjoying their first season at in the top division of Scottish Futsal, lying in sixth place after five matches.
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