The U.S. Needs More Futsal

This isn’t new news as we see from this good article from 2008.  But what will it take for the U.S. to get with the program…………….

Several weeks ago, Tom Dunmore of Pitch Invasion wrote about his trip to a Major Indoor Soccer League game in this piece for Chicago Sports Weekly, highlighting the curious combination of the world’s game with typical American sports glitz.

Soccer purists sometimes sneer at what they see as a bastardized version of the world’s game and perhaps fear its ability to draw fans during its long and unappreciated history, seeing it as a competitor to the 11-a-side game. Unlike the outdoor game, goals are at less of a premium, removing one of the complaints often heard about soccer but also upsetting traditional fans.

Tom noted that the MISL’s “hectic rock music-fueled extravaganzas” came to influence both the NFL and Arena Football. He also noted indoor soccer in America is very different from indoor soccer in the rest of the world.

In the most successful soccer nation, Brazil, a different variety of indoor soccer with a contrasting style, futsal, has become the most practised form of soccer in the country. … Futsal, a five-a-side game, is demarked by lines and not walls, thus slowing the pace of the game and demanding more of players technically.

MISL may be the top indoor soccer league in the U.S., but futsal, the indoor soccer game sanctioned by FIFA, is the game American soccer players should be playing.

Read & Learn More About Futsal: AOL News

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