As part of their promotion of their World Tour starting next March 2012, Street Legends – Jermaine Vanenburg and Ricardo Pinto, were in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, showcasing as well as holding street futbol clinics at their forever playground, street futbol court! Junpiter Futbol managed to catch up with the duo in Kuala Lumpur and with the questions directing at them hard and fast, Jermaine and Ricardo shared their stories and experiences at the same pace too!
JPF: What makes you guys want to come to Asia – Malaysia, to do street futbol clinic?
Ricardo Pinto (RP): This part of the world is new. Unlike France or Belgium, Malaysia is a new country to us too and we always interested to start new things, to share with many others who love this game.
Jermaine Vanenburg (JV): This is a new experience for us, not just Malaysia but the whole of Asia. We also notice there were a lot of good players in this part of the world. As street futbol is still relatively new, there isn’t any proper guidance so we are coming in now, to show them how to do it.
JPF: Which is your best street futbol experience so far?
RP: For me, it’s year 2004 where Jermaine and I were involved in a “live” pre-match in a stadium in Colombia, with a crowd of 50,000 people! The atmosphere was great!
JV: We were involved in lots of commercials with famous futbol stars but those were not the best moment. In fact, for me, it’s the tour which I travelled to different countries such as Europe, South America and etc with Street Legends! Nothing beats the feeling of travelling round the world with my best friends.
JPF: So how futbol was like during your time when you were growing up? Any player or club which you support or look up to?
RP: When I was young, in the mid-eighties, all of us wanted to play for Feyenoord or Ajax, but for me, I have always wanted to play for PSV or Ajax. And the player whom I looked up to is Brazil’s Romario! And I always wanted to play with him!
JV: I was 8yrs old when Ajax spotted me but then I also spent many years playing on the streets. Eventually I went on to play at the highest level of futsal where I earned a good living. Player wise, I followed Romario, Ronaldo and Zidane! I also like player who are arrogant – if you are going to ask me, Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, I would choose Cristiano Ronaldo because of his style and arrogance – he loves to show off. I am from Amsterdam and Amsterdam people likes to show off and I like those people who loves to show off too! (Hahaha….)
JPF: In one of our earlier JPF TALK interviews, we had Street Kings, Edward Van Gils and Issy Hitman. Are you guys close to each others since all of you are from Netherlands?
JV: We are very close to each other as we have known each other since we were 12yrs old! Both Edward and I invented lots of (futbol) tricks! You can ask him! We even travelled together to South America to play street futbol! These days, Edward is busy with his company while we are busy with ours, but trust me, there isn’t any competition between us. And if there is, it’s only healthy competition. Sincerely, I wish him all the best.
JPF: You have played street futbol in so many countries before, which country has the potential to be the next great street futbol country?
JV: We have been to Brazil before and street futbol in Brazil is good. The Brazilians already know how to play as street futbol has a long history there. Well, in Asia, this is the biggest market now. There are so many good futsal players in Asia and I am surprise that there are no Asian (futsal) player playing in Europe. Asian players are good but they are lacking self-confidence. That’s where we want to come in, give them the confidence and teach them how to be good and not arrogant. With this strength, Asian players can play in Europe where they will not be “eaten alive” on the court!
RP: I totally agree. We have been to Colombia, Brazil and etc, they are so many of them playing street futbol and everyone of them started playing street futbol when they were young. Many of them made it to professional too. In Asia, this is very different. I would really like to contribute as much as I can.
JPF: Do you know anything about Singapore’s futbol?
JV: We were in Singapore a couple of months back for the Tiger Street Futbol. It was great! You guys have a lot of great street futbol players! Then again, I am surprise that there is no Singaporean moving up as professional. If there are Singaporeans playing in Europe, many others will be motivated and will train hard to be like them. It’s like “they can do it why I can’t!” kind of mentality! That is why Brazilians are constantly developing great players because Brazilians back home want to be like those who are plying their trades in Europe! We would really want to guide Singapore players if we have a chance to do so.
RP: I have seen a lot of great players, potential futsal players in Singapore. And I think Singapore has the talents. A couple of months away from now, probably we should be heading to Singapore again! We hope to do something for Singapore’s futbol.
JPF: What’s your ambition?
RP: My ambition is to make Street Legends a great name, and to give the poor and homeless kids round the world a chance to pick up street futbol and make a living out of it. I mean I will be very happy if Street Legends, in a way or another, can contribute to their success when they grow up.
JV: Currently I am running a futbol school back in Netherlands, my biggest ambition is to open more all over the world! Not only for the riches. In poor villages, you have the best players. They don’t have the money to buy proper shoes, they can’t make contributions to get into a futbol club, my aim is to guide them, train them and bring them to Europe.
JPF: If you have a chance to nutmeg (panna) one player, who will that be!
RP: Cristiano Ronaldo! He’s good, fast and has good technique. We met him in London but not in a game. I mean he’s good but wait till he meets the real street futbol players from Netherlands, he will know what is a real street futbol.
JV: Let me think…… let me think….. wait….. wait…… erm…… Messi! (Haha!)
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