U.S. Futsal Head Coach Keith Tozer is bringing a 16-player roster to
the Futsal Goal Cup Dec. 5-7 at the Anaheim, Calif., Convention
Center. It's a capable group that has some international futsal
experience, but none are professional futsal players.

Dating back to the early 1980s when Minisoccer/Futsal was first
organized in the U.S., there has never been a futsal league in the
U.S. producing players for the U.S. Futsal Team. The U.S. had early
success under the general formula of using wall game professionals
under coach John Kowalski, but the rest of the world has since passed
them by. The U.S. is no longer dominant and is slipping further
behind each year.

"I've never played Futsal before, but I'm looking forward to it," one
U.S. Futsal Team selection from the MISL told the Philadelphia
Inquirer. "(U.S. Coach) Keith Tozer sent me a tape, and I'll learn as
I go along ... It's a good time for the players to take a break and
get away from the (wall) game."

This really isn't the way to assemble and prepare a team for an
international futsal tournament.

A professional futsal league was on the drawing board when the U.S.
Minisoccer Federation began operating in the early 1980s under the
leadership of President Osvaldo Garcia. There would first be regional
leagues sending representatives to a national championship, and from
that would evolve a professional league. U.S. futsal players would
come from those leagues.

But Garcia was shouldered out in the early going by the minisoccer
secretary and paper-pusher, Alex Para, and under Para's stifling
control the plan for development of a professional futsal league
stopped dead in its tracks. We don't believe at this point that Para
or U.S. Futsal has any control at all over U.S. professional and
international soccer. He may well have given that away to U.S. Soccer
when he cut a deal to affiliate. There were credible reports to that
effect. It has been virtually impossible to get any information out
of U.S. Futsal under Para's regime, and their website is essentially
a facade.

Despite these obstacles, there actually are senior men's futsal clubs
participating in an annual national futsal championship. The World
United Futsal Club of the San Francisco Bay Area has produced
national championship teams for years and has taken part in
international competitions at its own expense, but these players are
essentially ignored by U.S. Soccer when it comes time to assemble a
national team.

The basic problem is that U.S. Soccer controls international futsal
competition and stocks the U.S. selections with players from the wall
game who have no real experience playing futsal. There is no
professional futsal league in sight, and it does not appear that the
system is going to change.