News When it comes to football 5-a-side, which is played by visually impaired players, Brazil seem invincible The current world champions have won all three tournaments held at the Paralympic Games (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012) and are determined to extend their 100 per cent record on home soil So you would have thought that the teams drawn in Brazil's group at the Rio 2016 Games – Morocco, Turkey and Iran – might be trembling in their boots Well, not Turkey, the reigning European champions “Actually we ended up in our dream group”Hasam Yidirim, Turkey coachYidirim led a Turkish delegation at the draw, which was made on Monday (25 April) at the Rio 2016 headquarters He said Turkey were planning on “getting the gold medal” before adding: “For us, the draw was OK We’re also really happy with the welcome we had here and the competition venue is really impressive ”Become a football 5-a-side expert with our interactive infographicParalympic mascot Tom joined Rio 2016 staff Marcos Lima and Mariana Mello, and Brazil star Jefinho for the draw (Photo: Rio 2016)Brazil's star player and two-time Paralympic champion Jefinho admitted that Turkley posed the biggest threat in their group “Turkey come as European champions and will definitely give us a hard time It’ll be a tough game,” he said However, Brazil's biggest overall challenge for gold probably lies in the shape of traditional regional rivals Argentina, who were the other top seeded team and will compete in Group B with Mexico, Russia and China “Anything can happen, and that’s the beauty of football What we want is a lot of goals”Ulrich Pfisterer, chair of the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) football committe Brazil and Argentina's intense football rivalry extends to the Paralympic Games (Photo: Rio 2016/Alex Ferro) |