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TigerTurf, Eurograss unveil Brickell Rooftop Soccer in Miami
07/21/2009David Quinones, Miami Herald
Playing soccer on the roof is the kind of thing that got you grounded as a kid. Adulthood has its privileges.
Each Wednesday evening in Miami's Brickell Avenue neighborhood, while the MBAs and financial managers ramble from nearby offices to happy hour, jersey-sporting footballers ride elevators up five floors to the roof of the posh Capital Grille restaurant to compete in the Rooftop Soccer League.
This smaller variation of soccer is played on a field (called the pitch) about the size of a basketball court. Games consist of two 25-minute halves, played by teams of six players and a goalkeeper. Substitutions are allowed -- and necessary, as the pace of the play is intense.
The level of competition runs the gamut from weekend-warrior to pretty-darn-good.
''There's every level of play going on out here. You won't be out of your league,'' says Teófilo ''Nené'' Cubillas, member of RSL team Brickell Knievel (and son of Peruvian soccer legend Teófilo Cubillas Arizaga).
The most striking aspects of the game are the surroundings: players sprint along a panorama of the Miami River, and high-rise office and condo towers loom to the south and west. A net encloses the roof, preventing kicks from sailing off into the blue yonder.
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