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.