He is already known as "Eli Freeze," but Steve Elias has a new nickname - "The Maestro."
The Toronto resident earned the moniker after winning the Red Bull Futbol de Calle Finale at Webster Hall in Manhattan Sunday night.
Elias beat out 15 other competitors in the hip hop-influenced freestyle soccer competition at the popular New York nightclub.
"This is amazing," said Elias, who tours the world with his group, Freestylesoccer.ca. "I've done a few events, I did the Steve Nash charity event last year, but I've never done a competition in a formal setting like this."
With hip hop and reggaeton blaring, 16 competitors faced off in one-on-one battles on an elevated round stage. Think And 1 Mixed Tape Tour with a soccer ball, dribbling exhibitions made popular by Brazilian great Ronaldinho's commercials.
Ronaldinho was a major influence with the combatants Sunday, especially with Jason Quezada. The Toronto native goes by "Jayzinho," and is nearly a dead ringer for the Barca star, at least in looks.
The 21-year-old, who was a member of the Canadian under-20 national team and played professionally in France, was bounced in the semifinal. He did, though, earn some style points by trapping the ball on the back of his leg and doing a handstand.
The best battle of the night was between Angelo Storms and Jefferson Hinds in the first round. Hinds, a 26-year-old life insurance agent from Copiague, N.Y., set the bar high with an entertaining array of moves, including juggling the ball with his head, feet and chest while sitting.
Storms, a 19-year-old high school student from Rome, N.Y., responded by resting the ball on his back while he took his shirt off and put it back on again. The judges, including Red Bulls players Todd Dunivant and Taylor Graham couldn't pick a winner, but when pressed went with Hinds, aka "Bumpy."
Storms received a reprieve, though, when Tim Donnely, a former Cal State-Fullerton player from Los Angeles, gave up his spot in the quarterfinals to Storms. Donnely beat Angel "Abuelo" Gomez in the first round.
Storms knocked off fellow 19-year-old Victor Escobedo in the quarterfinals and Quezada in the semifinals to face Elias.
"It was awesome, I loved it," said Storms, a high school senior who has only been freelancing for about two years. "The way the crowd was into it and everything, it was crazy."
It appeared Elias, who has been playing and performing freestyle soccer for 15 years, was in trouble in the semifinal round when Dumisani "Mr. Skillz" Osondu, a bricklayer from Brooklyn, N.Y., balanced a can of Red Bull on top of a soccer ball on his head.
But Elias, a 34-year-old business specialist at CIBC Bank, responded. He did the same trick, but with his right foot. And the crowd went wild when he flipped the can up, catching it with one hand.
Elias saved his best for the semifinal and final, knocking off Noe Cornejo, a Washington D.C., resident who won points for his flair, and fan favorite Storms with the same move. He balanced one ball with his right foot, flicked a second ball with his left foot on top of the first and then bounced the top ball up.
"I've never seen anything like that before," Dunivant said. "That sealed the competition for him."
Elias's award for winning the competition? An all-expense paid trip to Salzburg, Austria to see Red Bull Salzburg train, a pair of specially-made Red Bull sneakers and a soccer ball.
Some of the competitors will be part of the New York Red Bulls Freestyle Team, a group that will entertain at events, tournaments and promotions throughout the tri-state area, as well as other non-soccer related sites throughout the city.
As for Elias, he's driving back to Toronto where he'll show off some of trickery at halftime of some Toronto FC games.
"The key thing about freestyle soccer is that there's the entertaining aspect, as you guys saw tonight, but there's also a huge developmental aspect of it," Elias said. "That's teaching youth how to improve their ball control, having fun with the ball."
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
