Soccer Legends Entertain At The Florida Cup 5 vs 5 All-Star Game
The Florida Cup All-Stars put on a shining display of soccer
skills inside the Barker Family Stadium at Rollins College on Saturday night.
Led by Brazilian Futsal legend Falcão, Team Islands of Adventure held on for a
15-13 win over Team Universal Studios in front of close to one thousand fans.
Islands of Adventure jumped out to an early lead with goals from former World
Player of the Year Kaká and footvolley and Teqball star Natalia Guitler while
Brazilian international Emerson scored in between for Universal Studios. Aílton,
a multiple winner in Liga MX with UNAM Pumas, scored twice to give Universal
the 3-2 lead, and Falcão scored his first to tie the game before Léo Lima put
Universal up 4-3. But that would be the last time Universal led as MLS veteran
Maicon Santos scored the next three to send Islands into the halftime break up
6-4.
Falcão opend the scoring in the second half with a scoop over Universal’s goalkeeper Joao that defied physics, and Islands of Adventure pulled away with a flurry of goals from Marcelo Saragosa, Dani, and another from Maicon. Aílton tried to close the gap with four goals in the second half, but a second from Kaká and Natalia and one from Paul Sharp extended the lead. Two goals from Palmeiras great Clebão and one apiece from Florida Cup CEO Ricardo Villar and Jamaican international Claude Davis were not enough as Natalia added her third in the closing seconds to seal the victory.
The Cooligans, Alexis Guerreros and Christian Polanco, served as the Masters of Ceremonies for the evening, and didn’t hold back in their attempts at an in-game selfie with Kaka while also encouraging the players to embarrass the opposition. The two comedians brought their A game all night, entertaining the crowd with witty insights and light-hearted jokes about the performance of Orlando City SC analyst Miguel Gallardo, who faced plenty of action from the winning side and stopped a fair number of golazos.
The game concluded with a Man of the Match trophy for Falcão, who dazzled the crowd with his dribbling, pulling off a rainbow over a defender’s head and a bicycle kick bounced from his thigh that missed the goal by inches. Many of the legends stayed to sign autographs and take photos with their young fans, who walked away with signed jerseys and keepsakes from a memorable evening.
The Florida Cup will be decided Sunday when Millonarios take on Everton at Camping World Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. EST and will be broadcast in the U.S on ESPN 2, ESPN 3, and ESPN Deportes.
