One quadra sits at a traffic-heavy intersection in the Vila Maria neighborhood, a working-class area in the northern part of the city. The grass around the court is brown and dusty, and the door does not close all the way, so the ball sometimes rolls out toward the cars. Despite the conditions, there was a line of players waiting to play on a recent Saturday afternoon, their backs pressed against the droopy railings in the fence and their feet ready to intervene if the ball tumbled toward the open door. Water breaks — and bathroom breaks — were taken at the gas station across the street.

The game was oddly silent. With five players on each side, there were the occasional shouts for a teammate to pass the ball or a warning that an opponent was approaching. Otherwise, there were just the scuffs and scrapes of rubber soles on concrete. On this smaller court, shots and goals were more frequent than in the games in Rio. Games were played to three goals. No time limit was needed.

At first, the players were all male. This is standard; the vast majority of games feature only men. At this quadra, one player played in dress pants. Several wore Brazilian club team jerseys, like those of Corinthians and Palmeiras. Outside the fence, sitting on a wood bench, Anesio Cornelo watched his 12-year-old son, Robson, play with men who were two or three times his age.

“I think this is good for Brazilian players,” Cornelo said, sharing a popular theory. “They play this way, on the court. They learn how to touch the ball, how to control the ball. It is a lot faster here than on a field. They become more skilled than if they just played on grass.”

For the most part, that skill was not altogether evident inside the quadra. The game was mostly ragged, with little defending and even fewer moments of quality. It was only when a girl, Clara Chaves, returned from a water break at the gas station and rejoined the game that the level increased.

Chaves was wearing a Palmeiras shirt. She is 14 and plays for one of the club’s women’s teams in a regional league. She readily admitted that her league — and women’s soccer in general in Brazil — was a work in progress. There is no national league, and the most talented women, like Marta, a five-time world player of the year, earn livings abroad.

Still, Chaves dreams, just as the boys do, and she was sharp and aggressive on the court, chasing the ball deep into the opponent’s end. She played quick, slick passes to teammates on the attack. She scored two goals in about five minutes.