Commentary from Tim Sheldon
RICHMOND, Va. (7-19-08) - The basic problem with the U.S. selection playing in
the FIFA Futsal World Championship in Brazil is that most or all of the players
don't play Futsal. Under the best of circumstances it would be difficult to face
teams such as Brazil, Spain, Italy and Argentina in a world tournament, but it
get even worse if you don't actually play the game..
U.S. Coach Keith Tozer is head coach of the Milwaukee Wave of the Major Indoor
Soccer League (MISL), which either is in transition or has gone out of business,
depending on whom you talk to. Most of the players on Tozer's roster have been
drawn from the MISL, which plays the six-a-side wall game. 
The U.S. team may be competitive at a mid level in world Futsal, but it can not
be expected to compete at the top level against teams that are drawn from
top-flight professional Futsal leagues throughout the world and have only to
fine-tune their game for this tournament.

The need is obvious for a professional Futsal league in the U.S. producing
players for the national team. Futsal has been in this country for the past 27
years, but there has been no serious attempt to create a professional league.
The basic problem is that U.S. Soccer controls international Futsal competition
and has stocked the U.S. selections with players from the wall game who relate
to Futsal only as an afterthought.
That system could change now, however, in light of recent events. MISL has gone
into a transition stage, and there is no professional indoor league to provide
players. This is a great opportunity for MISL to resurface playing by FIFA
indoor rules, or for an entirely new professional futsal league to emerge with
the support of U.S. Soccer and FIFA.
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Tim Sheldon is former associate editor of Soccer America Magazine and served as
soccer correspondent in the San Francisco Bay Area for the San Francisco
Examiner and United Press International. 

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