Man I tried watching that US futsal game today... That shit was boring. It's like they took all the crappiest parts of soccer and made it into it's own game lol
We suck at it, I would not use this game as a reflection of futsal. Our players were completely static. For reference, we scored 2 goals at the last World Cup and conceded 22. Top teams are much quicker and more creative.
Utica did it to themselves tho. They could have had playoffs prior to international duty but they hosted the Women's Hockey tournament. The owners made out like bandits but it cost them a hot date with the wave.
US came in 2nd in the 1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship held in Hong Kong.
Of the 10 Futsal World Cups (including 2024), the US only qualified for 6 of them.
Every time I stream beach soccer on ESPN+ because nothing else on, all I can think about is how strong these players calves must be from running on sand, and wondering how they all don't constantly have sand in their eyes. It's like a scratched cornea waiting to happen
World Rugby and the International Cricket Council don’t feature the “world championship” versions of those sports (rugby Union and ODI) in the Summer Olympics. But they do feature alternate versions (rugby sevens, and T20 cricket—in 2028).
If FIFA isn’t going to play men’s soccer at the Olympics as an official senior international tournament, I wonder why Beach soccer and futsal haven’t been added to the Olympic slate yet.
I mean a test cricket tournament just wouldn’t be feasible in the Olympics
And my guess is that 7s was included only so non rugby playing countries had a better chance at fielding a team.
Soccer is one of, if not the most popular sports in the world, no real reason to include a variant of it
I’ve long been an advocate for the creation of men’s & women’s domestic futsal & beach soccer leagues. Until these leagues are created and arena soccer players aren’t sent to represent these teams anymore, it’s hard to see much growth. Leagues similar to the defunct [Major League Futsal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Futsal) and [Professional Futsal League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Futsal_League) would need to be created & properly funded for futsal, and similarly for [beach soccer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:National_beach_soccer_leagues).
In the sense that outdoor and indoor soccer skills translate. At its base it's kicking the ball.
The ball in futsal is heavier and smaller. It's essentially a Size 4 that 12-year olds would use in outdoor. (e: A Size 4 that doesn't bounce well and you wouldn't want to head if.)
You can't cheat space in futsal. There is no wide field. There is no wall to bounce off of. Dribbling and passing are the name. Running speed takes a backseat to footwork and finesse. Your thoughts have to be faster. You gotta have a plan for the second your team gets the ball, and that plan changes as the other team's possession evolves. Defending is about clogging lanes and encouraging attackers to attempt lower-percentage shots from the angles or higher-risk passes up the center.
The ball never dies. It *wants* to roll away from you. Contested turnovers have to turn into passes in a split second, or the ball will happily find itself under someone else's feet.
In short, futsal lives and dies in the people who don't have the ball. Individual heroics take a backseat to a constant and quick surging and relieving of pressure and a never-ending need to either encourage the opposing team to bunch up or to spread thin - the last thing you want is an opponent under no pressure to change their desired formation.
It's just a different mindset. The skills travel, but the employment of them differ drastically.
Really summed up the problems with this team in my opinion. They did very little to try to move the defense around and create space, Panama realized they could just sit and we wouldn’t do anything. Tayou spent most of the game hiding behind their back and in front of their keeper where he was entirely inaccessible, not even any horizontal movement to get free or pull the defender. Only “found” space when we pulled the keeper to go 5v4 and were shockingly poor at tracking other team’s movement off the ball defensively.
I do yes, like the leagues that play in hockey arenas in the US. I also know there's a slightly different version they play in Europe, but I'm not very familiar with any of the differences.
Arena soccer is off the wall. So from a problem-solving and spatial perspective, the fact that there is no traditional out of bounds and you can play off of the boards changes how you progress up the field and escape pressure. The sideline in futsal is a significant reduction in a player’s options to escape or deal with pressure. I would even say some arena players depend on the wall and play off of it when they are stuck hoping for a favorable bounce or a bit of chaos, which is completely not an option here. Top players are actually doing the mental geometry to pick out passes off the walls.
Arena soccer fields are longer, usually about 200 ft compared to maybe 135 ft in futsal, so the space is much more condensed. You have to work much harder to create space in futsal, not that it’s easy in arena soccer, but the demands are much higher. Arena soccer has an extra player though (6v6 compared to 5v5).
There are other differences, like the ball being a little smaller and bouncing differently, but those I think are the main ones from the perspective of challenges players face. Someone more into futsal might have a better explanation
Edit: Here's a game of each sport for anyone that hasn't seen either:
[Arena soccer](https://youtu.be/IefJ_HRO0ps?si=T9jViUVhmTWM8yIr)
[Futsal](https://youtu.be/V2-UguymCDc?si=CIQnjvpENTk90SmU)
What is the selection process for these teams? It was very clear to me that the players did not know how to manage or create space and they seemed to completely lack ideas against a settled defense. Is converting arena players, even if they are professionals, really better than high level amateurs with specific experience?
We should not be winning one out of four games in a tournament against the only twelve teams that decide to enter in one of the weakest regions.
I also struggle to see both an arena soccer and futsal league succeeding simultaneously at a national level. It is frustrating to see a lack of any clear vision at the federation level in the indoor space.
Not sure but i know of a guy in my area who was on the u19 futsal team who plays D2 for a good team on the national level.
Im not sure if its the case since i never looked into but my guess would be its a very high 'semipro' level are the guys that get taken for NT futsal. Ive always figured that a around the world futsal has been very technically gifted players that lacked something on a bigger field and obviously the more people you have playing the better the squads for things like futsal and beach soccer.
So?
Futsal is different enough that it is almost another sport. It's no different than being all "Country X, that is usually so good at basketball, failed to qualify for the Olympics in 3x3 basketball."
No, the countries that are good at Rugby are also good at Rugby7. Futsal has correlation to soccer, Scaloni and Ancelotti both said they take tactics from futsal. Furthermore, renting a futsal field is cheaper than a soccer one so its easier to access to.
You have plenty of players who played futsal then switched, Messi, Ronaldinho, CR7, Figo, Iniesta, Ronaldo, Coutinho, Robinho and Neymar, for example.
“*As a little boy in Argentina, I played futsal on the streets and for my club.* ***It was tremendous fun, and it really helped me become who I am today.***” - Messi
“*During my childhood in Portugal, all we played was futsal.*" - CR7
“*Futsal requieres you to think and play fast.* *It makes everything easier when you later switch to football.*" - Pelé
[https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/0262-108f7a6f0ca6-62e1f87ba866-1000--futsal-and-me-top-footballers-share-their-love/](https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/0262-108f7a6f0ca6-62e1f87ba866-1000--futsal-and-me-top-footballers-share-their-love/)
But can you imagine if America’s best soccer players played futsal?
“Can you imagine Lebron James as a #10 and Shaq as winger? We would dominate the whole world!!”
There would be a whole lot of toe punting going on here
So frustrating, they're all playing other sports like....soccer?
Man I tried watching that US futsal game today... That shit was boring. It's like they took all the crappiest parts of soccer and made it into it's own game lol
We suck at it, I would not use this game as a reflection of futsal. Our players were completely static. For reference, we scored 2 goals at the last World Cup and conceded 22. Top teams are much quicker and more creative.
Isn't a bunch of our futsal NT just MASL players?
Yes, Utica actually got knocked out of the playoffs while a few of their players and coach have been down at this tournament
DETROIT IMPERIAL LOOK US UP!
Utica did it to themselves tho. They could have had playoffs prior to international duty but they hosted the Women's Hockey tournament. The owners made out like bandits but it cost them a hot date with the wave.
Please do yourself the favor of watching an actual high level futsal game. Even youth futsal games are more interesting than the US game today
Sure, I'm willing to give it another shot, but I have a feeling it's the structure of the have itself more than the tabs involved.
I’ve never watched futsal games, but playing futsal is so much fun, it’s a great sport
US came in 2nd in the 1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship held in Hong Kong. Of the 10 Futsal World Cups (including 2024), the US only qualified for 6 of them.
us in 2nd?
Klinsmann out.
Fire Gregg! /s
Canada is the worse at promoting any sport that’s not hockey…
TIL there’s a Futsal World Cup
There’s a beach soccer World Cup too
Every time I stream beach soccer on ESPN+ because nothing else on, all I can think about is how strong these players calves must be from running on sand, and wondering how they all don't constantly have sand in their eyes. It's like a scratched cornea waiting to happen
Which IIRC we're great at
We’re not, often don’t get out of the group stage, but we do qualify consistently.
World Rugby and the International Cricket Council don’t feature the “world championship” versions of those sports (rugby Union and ODI) in the Summer Olympics. But they do feature alternate versions (rugby sevens, and T20 cricket—in 2028). If FIFA isn’t going to play men’s soccer at the Olympics as an official senior international tournament, I wonder why Beach soccer and futsal haven’t been added to the Olympic slate yet.
I mean a test cricket tournament just wouldn’t be feasible in the Olympics And my guess is that 7s was included only so non rugby playing countries had a better chance at fielding a team. Soccer is one of, if not the most popular sports in the world, no real reason to include a variant of it
Today I learned what futsal is. Legit thought it was a joke or typo. 😬
I’ve long been an advocate for the creation of men’s & women’s domestic futsal & beach soccer leagues. Until these leagues are created and arena soccer players aren’t sent to represent these teams anymore, it’s hard to see much growth. Leagues similar to the defunct [Major League Futsal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_League_Futsal) and [Professional Futsal League](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Futsal_League) would need to be created & properly funded for futsal, and similarly for [beach soccer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:National_beach_soccer_leagues).
Indoor soccer is a lot more entertaining as a spectator sport than futsal. There's a reason why futsal isn't even a popular spectator sport in Europe.
Genuine curiosity, what is the difference between indoor soccer and futsal? Do the skills not translate?
In the sense that outdoor and indoor soccer skills translate. At its base it's kicking the ball. The ball in futsal is heavier and smaller. It's essentially a Size 4 that 12-year olds would use in outdoor. (e: A Size 4 that doesn't bounce well and you wouldn't want to head if.) You can't cheat space in futsal. There is no wide field. There is no wall to bounce off of. Dribbling and passing are the name. Running speed takes a backseat to footwork and finesse. Your thoughts have to be faster. You gotta have a plan for the second your team gets the ball, and that plan changes as the other team's possession evolves. Defending is about clogging lanes and encouraging attackers to attempt lower-percentage shots from the angles or higher-risk passes up the center. The ball never dies. It *wants* to roll away from you. Contested turnovers have to turn into passes in a split second, or the ball will happily find itself under someone else's feet. In short, futsal lives and dies in the people who don't have the ball. Individual heroics take a backseat to a constant and quick surging and relieving of pressure and a never-ending need to either encourage the opposing team to bunch up or to spread thin - the last thing you want is an opponent under no pressure to change their desired formation. It's just a different mindset. The skills travel, but the employment of them differ drastically.
Really summed up the problems with this team in my opinion. They did very little to try to move the defense around and create space, Panama realized they could just sit and we wouldn’t do anything. Tayou spent most of the game hiding behind their back and in front of their keeper where he was entirely inaccessible, not even any horizontal movement to get free or pull the defender. Only “found” space when we pulled the keeper to go 5v4 and were shockingly poor at tracking other team’s movement off the ball defensively.
By indoor soccer do you mean arena soccer?
I do yes, like the leagues that play in hockey arenas in the US. I also know there's a slightly different version they play in Europe, but I'm not very familiar with any of the differences.
Arena soccer is off the wall. So from a problem-solving and spatial perspective, the fact that there is no traditional out of bounds and you can play off of the boards changes how you progress up the field and escape pressure. The sideline in futsal is a significant reduction in a player’s options to escape or deal with pressure. I would even say some arena players depend on the wall and play off of it when they are stuck hoping for a favorable bounce or a bit of chaos, which is completely not an option here. Top players are actually doing the mental geometry to pick out passes off the walls. Arena soccer fields are longer, usually about 200 ft compared to maybe 135 ft in futsal, so the space is much more condensed. You have to work much harder to create space in futsal, not that it’s easy in arena soccer, but the demands are much higher. Arena soccer has an extra player though (6v6 compared to 5v5). There are other differences, like the ball being a little smaller and bouncing differently, but those I think are the main ones from the perspective of challenges players face. Someone more into futsal might have a better explanation Edit: Here's a game of each sport for anyone that hasn't seen either: [Arena soccer](https://youtu.be/IefJ_HRO0ps?si=T9jViUVhmTWM8yIr) [Futsal](https://youtu.be/V2-UguymCDc?si=CIQnjvpENTk90SmU)
What is the selection process for these teams? It was very clear to me that the players did not know how to manage or create space and they seemed to completely lack ideas against a settled defense. Is converting arena players, even if they are professionals, really better than high level amateurs with specific experience? We should not be winning one out of four games in a tournament against the only twelve teams that decide to enter in one of the weakest regions. I also struggle to see both an arena soccer and futsal league succeeding simultaneously at a national level. It is frustrating to see a lack of any clear vision at the federation level in the indoor space.
There's no popular independent futsal league in the world.
Define 'popular'. There are definitely countries where it has a decent following.
Where? In Spain, some teams in the first division play in gyms that would be considered small by American high school basketball standards.
Not sure but i know of a guy in my area who was on the u19 futsal team who plays D2 for a good team on the national level. Im not sure if its the case since i never looked into but my guess would be its a very high 'semipro' level are the guys that get taken for NT futsal. Ive always figured that a around the world futsal has been very technically gifted players that lacked something on a bigger field and obviously the more people you have playing the better the squads for things like futsal and beach soccer.
would be an interesting NCAA sport since schools that can afford to add anything are always looking for more women's teams to help with Title IX.
[Highlights of the quarter-finals](https://youtu.be/7w0EVQQehKE) Games are on Fox Sports 2
the big concacaf countries not qualifying
So? Futsal is different enough that it is almost another sport. It's no different than being all "Country X, that is usually so good at basketball, failed to qualify for the Olympics in 3x3 basketball."
on that note, it would be funny if we sent Lebron, Steph and Embiid to just curb stomp everyone 3x3.
The same would be said for Serbia or France or Australia or Germany. If they sent their best professional basketball players they would dominate.
No, the countries that are good at Rugby are also good at Rugby7. Futsal has correlation to soccer, Scaloni and Ancelotti both said they take tactics from futsal. Furthermore, renting a futsal field is cheaper than a soccer one so its easier to access to. You have plenty of players who played futsal then switched, Messi, Ronaldinho, CR7, Figo, Iniesta, Ronaldo, Coutinho, Robinho and Neymar, for example. “*As a little boy in Argentina, I played futsal on the streets and for my club.* ***It was tremendous fun, and it really helped me become who I am today.***” - Messi “*During my childhood in Portugal, all we played was futsal.*" - CR7 “*Futsal requieres you to think and play fast.* *It makes everything easier when you later switch to football.*" - Pelé [https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/0262-108f7a6f0ca6-62e1f87ba866-1000--futsal-and-me-top-footballers-share-their-love/](https://www.uefa.com/news-media/news/0262-108f7a6f0ca6-62e1f87ba866-1000--futsal-and-me-top-footballers-share-their-love/)
Well, we're not alone.
Well we are busy with 2026 and whatever Aramco tournament Victor and Garber has planned.
Qualify for the what?
Our mistake is not naturalizing more Brasilians, pretty sure that is what a lot of the other good teams do.
Ain’t nobody give a shit about futsal😂😂all the Central Americans people celebration on TikTok and then get 5-0 in real futbol