Got game? Downtown Phoenix to host part of global soccer tournament

PHOENIX — If you think you and a few friends have some real soccer skills, head to downtown Phoenix this weekend.

A qualifier for an international soccer tournament will be held in the parking lot in the middle of Washington, Jefferson, First and Second streets on Saturday.

Anyone familiar with downtown knows two things: There’s no soccer field there and it’s way too small to build one. So how does this thing work?

The Neymar Jr. Five tournament, created by international soccer star Neymar, is for teams of five and is played in a much smaller area. Games are 10 minutes long and, as usual, whichever team scores the most wins.

But there’s a twist: Every time a team concedes a goal, they lose a player.

The Phoenix tournament is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Registration is free and there is no charge to watch the games.

The event is expected to wrap up after the 3:30 p.m. championship game.

This weekend’s tournament is one of nine qualifiers across the country. The first- and second-place teams will receive an expenses-paid trip to Miami to compete in the national tournament on June 11.

The winning U.S. team will then be flown to Brazil to play in the world finals and will have a chance to receive a VIP trip to Barcelona to watch Neymar play in person.

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