Afonso talks Ricardinho, Zicky and Portugal’s mentality

Jubilation shifted into jitters. Afonso Jesus was ecstatic when Jorge Braz told him he’d be going to the FIFA Futsal World Cup™ for the first time in 2021. Then the responsibility the call-up carried began to sink in.

The 23-year-old’s anxiety amplified when he turned up for camp. To his disbelief, he heard Jorge Braz tell him he wouldn’t be rooming with another novice like Tomas Paco or Zicky Te, but with a certified god of the game.

Ricardinho is to Portuguese futsal what Cristiano Ronaldo is to Portuguese football. The sport’s biggest title had, however, agonisingly eluded the six-time Best Player in the World. The winger had announced Lithuania 2021 would be his last shot at it.

The next month was paradisiacal for the room-mates. Off the court, they became firm friends. On it, they won three matches after extra-time, two after coming back from the dead and one after penalties, before edging Argentina in the final to win their first FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Afonso recalls that triumph in conversation with FIFA, as well as discussing his own evolution, Portugal’s awesome ability to turn defeat into victory, and team-mates Kutchy, Lucio Rocha and Zicky.

How did it feel to become a world champion in Lithuania?
Afonso Jesus: It was probably one of the most important moments of my career. Not just because of the title, but because of everything that preparation for the World Cup meant, the call-ups for the World Cup, the evolution from game to game, individually and collectively. Being my first time at a competition like this, and culminating in the title, becoming a world champion, was probably the most important moment of my career so far.

What were the celebrations like?
I think that the celebrations were, above all, an acknowledgement by each player of what we had gone through together. Obviously we celebrated a lot, it was a moment of great joy. But above all, it was an acknowledgement of all the difficulties we had faced in preparation for the World Cup, during the World Cup. Everything made sense at that moment because we had all fought and worked towards the same goal, and it culminated in the much-coveted title.

How happy were you that Ricardinho managed to crown his sensational career with the title that had eluded him?
Very, very happy. He wasn’t a player I had played with much, or even trained with, but obviously he is a reference player for us Portuguese, without doubt a player who has been a big example to me for a long time. I had the opportunity to follow Ricardinho at the last World Cup, to work with him and train with him every day. I got to see why Ricardinho is Ricardinho and will always be Ricardinho in the futsal world. I think there was no-one who deserved to win that World Cup more than Ricardinho himself.

You’ve been superb in the Portuguese league and the Champions League over the last two years. Do you consider yourself a much better player than three years ago?
I think that, above all, the opportunities I’ve been given in terms of playing time – both for the national team and my club – have helped me improve a lot. I’m a more capable player, with more weapons to be able to compete in a competition like this. I’ve been improving some of my qualities in order to be able to help the Portuguese national team in the best way possible. My main objective is to perform at my highest level so that I can help this team fight for their target.

At Lithuania 2021 and the last EURO, against elite opposition, Portugal showed an incredible ability to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. What would you put this down to?
It’s certainly not easy to turn games around. I think it’s down to the team spirit, the family spirit that we have been creating for a number of years now. I think it’s something that reflects our day-to-day life as a national team. From training to the way we treat each other, the routine we have, not only as a team but as a family, from the coaching staff to the players, everyone who works with us. I think all of these factors are the only decent explanation.

Given Portugal have dominated futsal over the last few years, do you feel more pressure going into this World Cup?
I think the pressure we feel at the moment is good pressure, knowing that we are going to play in a World Cup, which is probably the best competition in the world. We are going to represent an entire country, and I think that this has to be our nervousness, this has to be our trigger to realise the responsibility we have. We’re not thinking about the fact that we are world champions. That’s in the past now. We know how important this World Cup will be. The nervousness that we may have is because we’re participating in a competition like this and we know we have to do our best.

Portugal will face the revelations of world futsal in the group stage. What do you think of this Morocco team?
We’re going into a very competitive group, a very strong group. I don’t think people even realise what we are up against. I believe that the games will be very competitive. Morocco are a team that have grown a lot. They performed very well at the last World Cup, with very high-quality players, players with great physical ability who know what to do with the ball, who know how to defend and attack well. We will analyse all our opponents and prepare 100 per cent for every game. But the most important thing is definitely ourselves and what we are capable of doing.

You play with Kutchy and Lucio Rocha at Benfica. What do you think of these two youngsters?
I think they are two very capable players for their age. They are players who, if they want to and are committed, can have a bright future in the sport. They are players I have a special affection for because I work with them every day at club level, and it gives me enormous pride to be in the national team alongside them both. I think naturally they were going to be national team players, but it gives me great pride that they were among the 16 called up for this World Cup.

What do you think of Zicky?
Zicky is a player with whom I have shared many moments in the national team. He’s a player I’ve played against many times, when Benfica faced Sporting. Zicky is probably one of the boys I have met who has overcome the most. I think ‘overcoming’ is Zicky’s watchword. It makes him, in my opinion, the best pivot in the world at the moment. He’s an incredible player and, above all, an incredible person too.