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„I have always been like Cristiano Ronaldo is now - I wanted to be as good as possible and constantly win“ says one of the best futsal players in Brazil's history, Manoel Tobias. Such insatiability led to the fact that in November 1992, the then 21-year-old indoor soccer player, flying back from the World Championship in Hong Kong, did not enjoy fame as a world champion and previously recognized as the best right winger, but set goals for future tournaments and achieved them. Recently celebrating his 50th birthday, M. Tobias shared thoughts about the victorious 1992 and 1996 World Championships, temporary changes, joining the great football team „Gremio“, training with Ronaldinho, and the upcoming Futsal World Cup in Lithuania.
– Did you play more futsal or regular football while growing up? – FIFA.com asked the player.
– Both. In 1986, I belonged to „Nautico Capibaribe“ and participated in both outdoor and indoor soccer activities. I was a member of the U17 team in outdoor football and played futsal with adults. I wanted it to last forever, but at the end of 1988, I had to make a decision and chose to pursue heights in futsal.
– After a little over two years, you were invited to the national team for the Futsal World Cup. How do you remember that? – Since I was a child, my dream was to represent my country in a big international tournament, I thought about it very often. When I decided to become a futsal player, I already knew that the World Cup was right around the corner, and I dreamed of participating in it. And so, I, a 21-year-old boy, was on a plane to Hong Kong with all our country's well-known players...
– What do you remember from that tournament? – I remember that in the last match of the second stage, we played against Holland, and the winner of that match would advance to the semifinals of the championship. And then we heard that Pele would be present at those matches, and I always dreamed of meeting him. We really wanted him to come to our locker room, but he didn't show up, which disappointed me.
However, when we entered the field, he was sitting in the stands. We played one of our best matches, won 6:1, and I myself scored two goals. When I scored the second one, I looked at Pele sitting in the stands and dedicated the goal to him, and Pele congratulated me with a wave. What a moment!
That performance in front of Pele gave us a lot of confidence in our abilities. Then we defeated two very strong teams in the semifinals and finals - Spain and the USA. In the group stage, we played a draw with the USA, but in the finals, we beat them 4:1...
After the tournament, we went to the champions' dinner, and I was chosen as the best right winger of the championship, and Jorginho - the best player of the entire tournament, I was very happy for him. Our flight back home after the tournament took about 30 hours, so I had a lot of time for reflection and set myself many goals for the future. One of them was to participate again in the World Cup in four years, which was not easy, considering how many great players Brazil has. The second goal was to help Brazil defend the title of world champions, and the third - to become the best player in the next championship. Already at that time, I was working very hard in training, but I told myself that I had to work even harder...
– And you managed to achieve all three goals... – It was incredibly difficult, our opponents had greatly improved. There were only four players left in our team - me, Fininho, Vander, and Serginho - who played in '92. We were like the bad guys. Indoor football was rapidly growing in Spain, and everyone said it would be Spain's time to shine, and everyone knew that we wanted to spoil their party...
We played against Belgium - all the spectators actively supported the Belgians. The match against Uruguay - a similar story...
However, in the final match in Barcelona, we beat the amazing Spanish team with Pato and the excellent coach Javier Lozano 6:4, it was a great achievement. If we had played a little worse, the Spanish would undoubtedly have won the tournament...
Speaking for myself, I always thought about those goals I set for myself when flying out of Hong Kong. I achieved all three, and besides becoming the best player of the tournament, I scored the most goals and made the most assists. All this was achieved thanks to my will. I always wanted to improve and be the best version of myself. I was like Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi are now - I always pushed myself forward and wanted to be as good as I could be...
Did you think that the Brazilian indoor football team of '96 is the best team in history?
I want to emphasize that I certainly don't underestimate other great and different national teams. The Spanish team with Daniel, Kike, Javi Rodriguez, the Brazilian team with Schumacher, Falcao, Vinicius... But the Brazilian team of '96 played a free and fast indoor football, the principles of which some teams are still trying to adapt today.
It was like the Brazilian football team of the late sixties with Pele, Jairzinho, or Tostao. Teams today imitate their actions.
