Maybe it’s the venue. The Stade Tour Eiffel caught the eye of the world during the Olympics and is no less picturesque now as summer has turned to autumn. Maybe it’s that French folie, and the desire of the Parisian crowd to kick up a noise whenever they get an opportunity. Or maybe it’s just that blind football, or cécifoot as they call it here, is an action-packed sport that thrills as much as it astonishes. Whatever the reason, it’s quite the Paralympic ticket.
In front of a full house on Tuesday night the qualification rounds of the blind football competition reached their climax with two matches to decide Group A. It was hosts France against pointless Turkey, but first Brazil, the titans of this sport, against China, the dominant country in parasport full stop.
The straightforward fact of the matter is that Brazil have never lost in Paralympic competition since blind football was added to the roster of official sports at Athens in 2004. They remain undefeated still, but only just, and by the very finest of margins. It required a scrambled save from their sighted goalkeeper Luan Gonçalves to claw the ball off the line in the last second of the match to keep the record going.
China gave as good as they got in this game, and had the standout player in Ruiming Zhu who combined directness and a keen shooting instinct with an ability to ride the physical knocks that come as standard in this sport. For Brazil, whose stars include the remarkable Jefinho, now 34, but still able to pick out team-mates 20 yards away with a lofted pass, and star striker Nonato, whose solo goal to win gold in Tokyo went deservedly viral, there was a sense that energies were being reserved for later in the tournament, almost to their cost.
Blind football requires that every player wear a blindfold to equalise visibility amongst the outfield players to zero. Instead the two key senses are sound and touch. The ball is filled with bearings so that it rattles, coaches can issue directions from varied points on the sidelines, players must vocally warn each other (by saying “voy”) before pounding into another full body-to-body challenge. As for touch, it’s simple: when you get the ball the aim is largely to keep it.
This makes for a sport where dribbling is king and of course the Brazilians are brilliant at it. But there are various ways to skin an opponent. Jefinho is an elegant runner, gliding past challenges in the manner of the Brazilian Ronaldo. His teammate Tiago, a forward (in a five a side team, Brazil started the match with four of them), is more of a Diego Costa; he’ll run with the ball and through you at the same time.
It’s the close control and the ability to ride challenges that help make blind football a compelling spectator sport. Certainly the crowd appreciated it. Fans are supposed to stay quiet during play but involuntary “oohs” came up from all corners of the arena when Jardiel span his way past the attention of three Chinese players in the second half. There were also a fair few “eeks” too, on the numerous occasions when players were knocked brutally to the ground.
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The requirement for quiet makes for a different stadium dynamic and one that French organisers have used to create a special atmosphere. Whenever play is broken up, as it often is during the two 15 minute halves, a master of ceremonies will demand noise which a pent up crowd are happy to deliver. Similarly, at half time, the noise is unrelenting but requires the MC to bring it down again, almost singing the crowd a lullaby as a raucous Mexican wave slowly softens into a silent ripple.
A deserved enthusiasm for the Brazilians and Chinese duly turned up a notch or five when the French team took to the field. Every break in play meant a chorus of “Allez Les Bleus” and, to be fair, one child shouting “Turkiye”. As well as the Mexican wave there was a wave of noise too, as the aluminium bleachers were stamped on from one stand to the next. When Les Bleus opened the scoring with a driven shot by Frederic Villeroux the non-existent roof went off in a more traditional style. France went on to win 2-0 and they will now progress to the semi-finals alongside Brazil where they will play Colombia and world champions Argentina respectively.
