Futsal

Discussion in 'Pro Indoor Soccer' started by dubcballer4, Jan 4, 2006.

  1. dubcballer4

    dubcballer4 New Member

    Jan 3, 2006
    West Chester, PA
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    this game is very popular in brasil, but i dont think anyone really plays it in america. i dont know why though because it is more valuable than indoor soccer because it requires even more ball control. i think that we could learn something from the brasilians by playing futsal more instead of indoor soccer.
     
  2. skipper60601

    skipper60601 Member

    Aug 12, 2005
    Club:
    Hibernian FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I saw a futsal game between Brazil and the US in Milwaukee a couple of years ago and enjoyed it tremendously. Brazil won 9-1 and they were outstanding.
     
  3. FCBblaze

    FCBblaze New Member

    Oct 24, 2005
    I thought we took like 8th outta 32 in the big futsal tourny in what was that 2004....
     
  4. AuriVerde

    AuriVerde Member

    Aug 26, 2003
    Fortaleza-CE,Brasil
    Club:
    Vasco da Gama Rio Janeiro
    It's really valuable for skill.We play it a lot here in Brazil.Indeed,kids are encouraged to start in Futsal(to gain more skill,ball control,fast thinking..) and then move to Soccer.
    I play,for fun,in a club called ASBAC,here in my city:)

    Be well,guys.
     
  5. ButlerBob

    ButlerBob Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 13, 2001
    Evanston, IL
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I think you would be surprised how many people are playing futsal here in the US. I went to Brazil last year with two college aged teams and half of the games we playd were futsal. From seeing a bunch of games and playing some, I've become a big fan. I'm using futsal with an after school program that I'm involved with here in Chicago. The kids like it and I think it helps them pick up soccer skills.
     
  6. AuriVerde

    AuriVerde Member

    Aug 26, 2003
    Fortaleza-CE,Brasil
    Club:
    Vasco da Gama Rio Janeiro
    Nice to know that!Congratulations about your school program,mate.:)
     
  7. yankiboy

    yankiboy New Member

    Sep 2, 2003
    Laurel, MD
    To be completely honest, the few times that I have had the chance to see futsal, it just seemed strange to me. I guess like it would be for people who have been exposed to futsal to see our brand of non-FIFA sponsored indoor soccer.

    I need to be more exposed to it. The US National Futsal team played in Baltimore a few years back but it was so underpromoted that I didn't even know about it until almost 8 months after it happened. :(
     
  8. Fonsos

    Fonsos Member

    Sep 21, 2000
    Chicago
    Did you come to this conclusion after watching "Ginga" on FSC?
    Futsal is part of the solution no more no less. Bottomline is that players still need to put in the work in order to improve.

    Fonsos
     
  9. Dan K

    Dan K New Member

    Dec 10, 2005
    St. Louis, MO
    Futsal is quite popular for the youth soccer teams in St. Louis. The outdoor clubs use futsal in the winter months for better development of foot skills as opposed to the regular indoor game with dasherboards. I was a skeptic at first, but the games can be fairly exciting.
     
  10. AuriVerde

    AuriVerde Member

    Aug 26, 2003
    Fortaleza-CE,Brasil
    Club:
    Vasco da Gama Rio Janeiro
    IMO,it's the best training you could get for ball control,and dribbling skills.
     
  11. sokol

    sokol Member

    Aug 4, 2004
    It is not helpful for balls skills. It is helpful for teaching you how to out-think your opponents and play quickly. It is mental training but not skills training. The ball is hard and does not bounce, not off the ground and not off your foot. This makes it very easy to control. Also you play in flat shoes which allow you to control the ball easier. The best training for ball skill is to play a compacted game on bumpy wet grass. Futsal doesn't make the brazilian's ball skills better, it teaches them how to be ultra-creative and quick-minded on the field. It is also good for agility and quickness physically, but it does not improve your touch on a real soccer ball.

    But it is getting more popular. Lots of youth clubs use it instead of hockey-rink indoor. Hopefully sometime soon facilities will all convert to field-turf, wall-less indoor. But the layout of most facilites makes that difficult. You need more width, that's why they put the walls in in the first place. There are a few places like that popping up though. Futsal can be played on old tennis courts. I've seen some parks that have taken out the net of a tennis court and put a basketball/futsal court in it's place.
     
  12. DavidP

    DavidP Member

    Mar 21, 1999
    Powder Springs, GA
    I've seen it, and I think it's great. Unfortuately, there are some factors that have hindered the sport's growth in the US. I used to be a state association president, and I surmised that the federation believed in a slow-growth, grassroots program, which has kept things from taking off. The federation is small, and unable to give much assistance other than saying "just do it." Now, this is just my experience; others may not see it this way, and may have had great experiences with the USFF. That's fine; good for you. I may have left my post too early, as I got inquiries about league and such (there were none) even a year after I closed up shop.

    Another problem is the lack of facilities in some areas. You can't just go to a county or city rec center and unseat a basketball league that's been there for 40+ years. Old tennis courts are good, if you can find 'em, and also skinned infields on softball fields. I'm surprised somebody hasn't tried converting an old supermarket or department store into a futsal/indoor hall; it's been done for basketball, I know.

    I also think the thirty year head start that the turf-n-board version of indoor has on futsal is a real hindrance. Nothing wrong with it; it's just when somebody says indoor soccer, people think hockey rink and astroturf. The fact that we've had a pro league of some form or fashion for nearly 30 years (along with the televised NASL indoor tourneys from the mid-70s) has put a kind of stranglehold on other indoor soccer games like futsal.

    I hope futsal does succeed, but I also now have an affinity for traditional five-a-side. It can be played with walls as well, or without, and is not bound by being indoors or out; it's both. I follow a British fives squad, and it's pretty exciting (they play outdoors for the most part). I'd like to see futsal (or even regular five-a-side), as someone has said, become to soccer what softball is to baseball, a good rec sport, especially on the adult level. I'd also like to see the US regain (yes, we used to be good) its former place as a futsal power (that's what happens when you have no pro league, and have to use MISL players to field a team; it ain't the same game, and you have to play it all the tme to get good at it).
     
  13. ButlerBob

    ButlerBob Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 13, 2001
    Evanston, IL
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I agree with Sokol, I don't really think it helps that much with dribbling. I think that the biggest areas are passing, movement off the ball and thinking quickly. If your holding the ball too long or standing still your losing the ball. The really good teams that I've seen are contantly moving the ball and off the ball. It's almost like a modified basketball weave, but more in the shape of a box.
     
  14. kenntomasch

    kenntomasch Member+

    Sep 2, 1999
    Out West
    Club:
    FC Tampa Bay Rowdies
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Still waiting for that pro futsal league....
     
  15. dubcballer4

    dubcballer4 New Member

    Jan 3, 2006
    West Chester, PA
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    Yeah, that added to it. I had read some articles about Ronaldo before though, too, and he didn't start playing outdoors until he was 12 or something. Robinho and Falcao were amazing in the Ginga segment.
     
  16. Ese_Guy

    Ese_Guy New Member

    Apr 18, 2005
    Sunny Southern CA
    You are so right.

    I currently play Indoor @ the local YMCA as well as Futsal at a local sports park.

    The YMCA pretty much dedicates it's gymnasium to basketball, and understandably so. We play Futsal outdoors in an area where a "Paint-ball" park has left a space for three courts. The competition in the Futsal league is awesome, but because it is outside, the court conditions vary - often times unsafe.

    I'm thankfull to even be able to play, but the facilites, conditions, environment, etc. could be better. I have personally looked at empty (used to be supermarket) building, but given real estate prices locally it is practically impossible to either lease or purchase one of these facilities.

    Futsal IMHO and soccer in general is growing exponentially here in the US.
     
  17. ButlerBob

    ButlerBob Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 13, 2001
    Evanston, IL
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  18. DavidP

    DavidP Member

    Mar 21, 1999
    Powder Springs, GA
    Well, don't hold your breath. Wouldn't want you to pass out and fall down...:D

    Seriously, until USFF either takes the lead (don't count on it), or gets out of the way and lets US Soccer handle things (ditto), it probably won't happen. It would have to be at least on the level of USL-1 or the MISL for it to work. That pro league that was supposed to have started a couple of years or so ago was doomed from the get-go because it was too low-profile. You know as a sports guy, that nowadays, it has to be a big splash from the start, or it won't work.

    Either MLS would have to have a futsal league (yeah, right), USL would have to resurrect the I-League as futsal, or MISL would have to switch (only if they were very, very, desparate) for it to be as big as it would have to be. I have a better chance at getting married next week (I'm not; nowhere close) than any of that has of happening.
     
  19. Paul Schmidt

    Paul Schmidt Member

    Feb 3, 2001
    Portland, Oregon!
    Question (not having much time to peruse web site pages for rules, plus wanting to get this information out here):

    Is "regulation" Futsal played on something larger than a basketball court? Is it generally the size of a (Team) Handball court? 40m x 20m?
     
  20. ButlerBob

    ButlerBob Moderator
    Staff Member

    Nov 13, 2001
    Evanston, IL
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States

Share This Page