The Solomon Islands Kurukuru, in less than a day, will be propelled onto the global stage as the Futsal World Cup gets underway.
As excitement and expectation builds in Brazil, many are putting their money on Spain. Pundits say that whoever overcome Spain, winners of the last two events, will definitely walk away with the trophy.The team posing the biggest threat to Spain is Brazil, although its coach has downplayed its prospects.
"Spain are the team to beat at this World Cup. They are a group that has had everything planned out for years now. They may have changed coach, but they've continued their work just as before," the Brazilian coach Oliveira tells FIFA.com.
"Nowadays, it's much harder to win a World Cup than four years ago, because every country is investing in Futsal now we're seeing rapid improvements. That's something we've been aware of and why we deemed it necessary to professionalise our technical committee, build our own training academy and do all the work we've done over the last four years. That's the only way to prepare a team capable of winning the world title, while at the same time paving the way for the next generation."
The young Kurukuru lads have their work cut out for them, what they need to do is to stay focused and play their natural game. As a young team the boys should soak in as much as they can from this tournament, and show to the rest of the World that, although young, they are a force to be reckoned with.