You ready to salivate? Touros-RN, a captivating city on the Southern Atlantic coastline, stands along 180 kilometres of seraphic sand adjacent to turquoise, crystal-clear waters. Dune complexes and coral reefs beautify bliss. Relaxing as the sun sets on one of its breathtaking beaches is akin to doing it at Oia Castle in Santorini, the Atacama Desert or the Taj Majal.<\/p>\n
Its seduction isn\u2019t exclusively aesthetic. Touros is known as \u2018Esquina do Brasil\u2019 (Brazil’s Corner), the obtruding point from which one way is north and the other east. It\u2019s the continent\u2019s closest point to Africa. It homes the country\u2019s oldest monument and Latin America\u2019s second-biggest lighthouse. Its unique marine life \u2013 Conus tourosensis, a venomous, predatory sea snail endemic to its waters \u2013 seduces oceanographers. Its waves render it paradise for water-sport enthusiasts. Tiny Touros, like enormous Earth, even has its own complication of Seven Wonders.<\/p>\n
One thing the municipality has never had, however, is celebrities. Growing up there in the noughties, there was no footballer, popstar or actor from the town to idolise. It\u2019s the type of place you\u2019re born in, grow up in, work in and retire in; a place where everyone knows everyone.<\/p>\n
And everyone knew the Miranda boys. A ball to Emerson, Edson and Erick was like oxygen to others. All three brothers, despite historical and geographical handicap, pipe-dreamed of putting Touros on the map with a world football title.<\/p>\n
When Edson was 13, he was afforded what he believed was a once-in-a-lifetime gateway to that opportunity: a trip to Portugal to try out for a professional football team. He returned home without the contract he had so craved. Yet he returned home having enjoyed \u201cthe best trip of my life\u201d \u2013 one he still reminisces about today.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, it was unbelievable: I got to meet Hulk! My big idol,\u201d he recalled, as starry-eyed today as he was entering his teens. \u201cI will never, ever forget that.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou couldn\u2019t believe how nice he was. He played for the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o but he was such a humble guy. I took a photo with him. I still have it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon, after Edson had switched from 11-a-side football to futsal, there would be two Hulks in the photo he would gaze at relentlessly.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends starting calling me Hulk and the nickname stuck,\u201d he said. \u201cI loved it. I love it to this day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was because we had similar characteristics. I had a potent shot and was a physical player. It\u2019s in homage to the great Hulk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edson had two dreams back then: to watch Hulk win the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014\u2122, and to catapult Touros into an overseas eye by winning the FIFA Futsal World Cup\u2122. The former ended in a nation-devastating 7-1 defeat to Brazil; the latter did with another code-hop.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeach soccer was always my first love,\u201d he said. \u201cI loved playing it as a kid. Futsal and football have more opportunities. Erick became a professional footballer (he went on to play in the Brazilian second flight) and I became a futsal player.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut beach soccer was always the sport I enjoyed playing the most. When the opportunity arose, it was a really easy decision to switch to beach soccer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astonishingly, just two years after he swapped courts for sand, the striker was performing at the sport\u2019s pinnacle: the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup\u2122. There, Edson Hulk flickered his seldom talent, though he couldn\u2019t prevent the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o suffering a 5-4 extra-time loss to Senegal in the quarter-finals. He described playing in the 2021 finals as \u201can indescribable sensation\u201d but admitted he was \u201cstill adapting to the sport at the highest level\u201d.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s safe to say that now he has not just acclimatised to it, but mastered it. Edson Hulk astonishingly scored 14 goals in six games \u2013 twice as many as any other player, despite Brazil\u2019s considerable rotation \u2013 as they won the Beach Soccer Copa America in March, which served as CONMEBOL qualifying for UAE 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important targets were to qualify for the World Cup and to win the title,\u201d he said. \u201cMy principal objective is always doing everything I can to help the team win. But of course I was very happy to finish as top scorer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edson Hulk went on to seize the leading marksman and MVP prizes in the Circuito Brasil de Beach Soccer \u2013 the country\u2019s most prestigious championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel I\u2019m better than I\u2019ve ever been,\u201d he said. \u201cBrazil has so many great strikers, so if I\u2019m not at my absolute best, I\u2019ll lose my place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m constantly thinking about wearing the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o shirt at the World Cup in Dubai. I\u2019m so dedicated, I\u2019m always pushing myself. I give my in every training session and every game.\u201d<\/p>\n
The transformation of Edson Hulk from prospect to prince has hiked hope that \u2018The Kings of the Beach\u2019 can regain the global crown they last wore in 2017. The Marco Octavio-coached, Catarino-captained Brazil will discover their group-stage opponents on Friday, when the official draw for UAE 2024 takes place.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope it\u2019s a good draw for Brazil,\u201d he said. \u201cThat said, we\u2019re fully aware that every team that has qualified for the World Cup is top quality. There are no easy games any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Davids strive to underscore that in Dubai, Goliaths such as IR Iran, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Senegal, Spain and Switzerland all have their eyes on the prize. Edson Hulk, however, responded emphatically when asked if he considers Brazil the best team on the planet.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout doubt,\u201d he said. \u201cLook, maybe I\u2019m biased. Maximum respect to the other national teams, but I really believe Brazil have the best team. Brazil has always had the best players. That doesn\u2019t guarantee you victory, but I think it will be very hard to beat this Sele\u00e7\u00e3o. You better believe that Brazil will go into the World Cup in really strong shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be a world champion, representing your country is something you can\u2019t even put a price on. Can you imagine having the honour of becoming Brazilian football\u2019s first six-time world champions? It would be inexplicable joy. This is the dream of every one of us. First I will keep working as hard as possible to make Marco Octavio\u2019s squad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edson doesn\u2019t just dream of lifting the trophy for himself and his family. It goes way beyond that.<\/p>\n
\u201cTouros-RN, I love my city,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m enormously proud to come from my city. I love the people of Touros. I know how much it would mean to them to win the World Cup. It would be an unprecedented achievement for the city. I want the whole world to know the name of Touros.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You ready to salivate? Touros-RN, a captivating city on the Southern Atlantic coastline, stands along 180 kilometres of seraphic sand adjacent to turquoise, crystal-clear waters. Dune complexes and coral reefs beautify bliss. Relaxing as the sun sets on one of its breathtaking beaches is akin to doing it at Oia Castle in Santorini, the Atacama […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":876446,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,26798],"class_list":["post-876445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-ipna"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=876445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/876446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=876445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=876445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=876445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}