Before being a professional footballer, Richard Rios He stood out in futsal, and a tournament in Brazil changed his whole life. The player, who now shines in the Colombian National Teamtook a leap into the void that has only brought him joy in a promising career.
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Landed in Rio de Janeiro at 18 years of age to play a friendly futsal tournament with the Colombian national team. Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela were the rivals and their talent dazzled both locals and foreigners.
Richard Rios (left)
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“When I was little, I divided my (free) time equally between futsal and football. But then I saw and discovered that I didn’t have many chances of going far in football, and I stayed in futsal,” the Colombian told FIFA in an interview.
It changed Ríos’ life
Riversafter standing out in Brazil, returned to Colombia to continue his normal life, but a call from some agents changed his plan. He reached the lower divisions of the Flamengoa powerful player on the continent, that touch of indoor football allowed him to stand out from the rest and was his hallmark in the king of sports.
“Most of what I do on the field comes from futsal. When I control the ball by stepping on it, when I face one-on-one, when I do a wall pass. I can think faster in a small space,” said the native of Vegachí (Antioquia).
“I think that football is about that, micro-matches within a very big match, you know? There are little two-on-two and one-on-one matches that you sometimes have to resolve to win a match. All of that is like futsal, and it helps me a lot,” he added.
Richard Rioswho is the big star today of Fifa to promote the Futsal World Cup which begins on September 14 in Uzbekistan, recalled some of the Colombian national team players who shone in the 2012 World Cup in Thailand, but who could not continue due to the conditions in which they lived.
“There are some players that I remember; I also met some of them, like the number 10 of that team, Angellott (Caro; one of the great names of Colombian futsal). In any case, it was something that left a mark on me because it was in my early days, and it contributed a lot to me being here now,” said the Colombian.
The Antioquian midfielder, with a great performance in the Copa América.
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He added about the tournament that he was unable to see when he was a child: “We were unable to see it because I didn’t have very good living conditions. We followed what we could follow from there.”
Before becoming a professional footballer, Richard Ríos stood out in futsal and a tournament in Brazil changed his whole life. The player who now shines in the Colombian National Team took a leap into the void that has only brought him joy in a promising career.
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