The King

This afternoon I watched a couple of hours of Nike’s Joga 3, ‘Play Beautiful’, competition for under 20’s held at Highbury on SkySports.

This was a three player a side competition for under 16 boys and girls and under 20 boys and girls teams, the winners of these four finals securing a place at Nike’s Joga 3 Finals in Brazil.

The game’s were quick lasting only three minutes and the short pitch dictated the players needed good close control but also vision to pick out a teammate with a first time ball.

Eric Cantona was on hand to start the first game and stayed throughout to watch the whole tournament. Anybody who thinks Cantona has turned into a lard bucket should have seen him today. He must have lost 20lbs since the last Nike commercial and looks close to his playing weight.

He didn’t play today but I wouldn’t bet against a French ‘All-Star’ team taking the court in Rio in July.