U.S. YOUTH FUTSAL NATIONAL TEAMS

U.S. Youth Futsal Announce Youth National Team Rosters and Teams Set Off For Colombia

Rosters for the U.S. Youth Fustal National are announced ahead of a series of international friendlies that will take place in Colombia. A National I.D. Event was held earlier this month with over 400 players competing in the Kansas City area for roster selection on the National Futsal youth teams which will travel to Medellin – a host city for the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup. 

Youth Soccer News: U.S. Youth Futsal has announced the rosters for its youth national teams that will travel to Colombia later this month for a series of international friendlies.

After a year-long identification process that concluded with a National I.D. Event earlier this month, player pools were announced in the following birth years: 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2000-01 and 1998-99. A highly well run event, each player participated in three sessions per day. The older teams will travel to Colombia while the younger teams will travel to another event later in the year.

“This has been a great year for U.S. Youth Futsal,” said USYF founder and Executive Director of Futsal I.D Jon Parry, who is also the USSF Academy Director for Sporting Kansas City Development Academy. “We have created the best Futsal identification program in the country and many of the young players at the National I.D. Player Camp are outstanding. If a soccer coach does not see the benefits of playing Futsal, they are short sighted and do not appreciate how Futsal can enhance a players ability.”

“We have some truly outstanding young players in this year’s player pool,” noted U.S. Youth Futsal Director of Coaching Ty Stauffer. “I look forward to seeing them compete against international competition.”

With the most talented player pool ever, the choices were tough for the coaches who were onsite for the 2016 National I.D. Camp which took place from July 7-9 in New Century and Overland Park, Kansas.

“The National I.D. camp only gets better and better. The quality of the coaching gets better and the players who have been in the program keep improving and the new players who come are obviously receiving great futsal training,” said Keith Tozer, Head Coach of the US Futsal Team. “It is very exciting to see.  The overall level of play has improved significantly over the past few years. Futsal has really exploded.”

“The speed of play has definitely improved, ” said Stauffer.  “I am seeing some of the kids who have been in the program for the past few years and I am really impressed with the level of play. The players have really matured. The biggest difference is the level of the lower end player is not lower anymore.  There are more players a much higher level than two years ago. It is a tough job making a selection. There are many more players at a high level than ever before.”

“The talent level is very high at this National I.D. Camp and it is great to see the kids who I coached when I traveled all around the country to participate in the USYF Regional I.D. camps,” said Goalkeeper Coach and USYF Regional Director Otto Orf. “The size of the player pool, especially at the younger ages, is great. It is a pleasure to be here and it a great sign for Futsal. There are a lot of hard choices when determining who should be selected for the National team roster — and this is a great problem to have.”

What can players do to improve?  According to Stauffer, “As a coach at a national player pool, it is a tough deal evaluating players. The question is what can players do to improve. Players need to score goals, create goals or stop goals. After every session, a player needs to ask themselves did they score, create and stop goals and if they didn’t, they need to ask themselves why and what can they do better in the next session. All these talented players can handle the technical aspects of the game. So you have to be able to make an impact at the game. A player has to help their team and influence the outcome of the game.  Otherwise you are a role player and while you normally have to have role players, at this level of competition, that is not really what we are looking for.”

The teams will stay in Medellin, one of three cities that will host the 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup, and train and play at the Estadio Tulio Ospina in Bello, just north of the city and home to Real Antioquia of the Liga Argos men’s professional Futsal league.

Colombian opponents include Bello Florida, Bello Fontidueno, Pinas Club, Real Antioquia, Seleccion Intercolegiados, Seleccion Itagui and Tecnologico Antioquia.

The visit will include one day of training and one day of team-building adventure prior to the three match days, plus a gap day for rest and local sightseeing.
The coaching staff heading to Colombia is helmed by Stauffer and Director of Goalkeeping Otto Orf as well as Program Director Soorena Farboodmanesh. The coaching team includes Jeffrey Lamy, Jason Miller and Jose Fabian Rodriguez.

“This has been a very successful National I.D. camp,” said Farboodmanesh. “Next year, we expect even more players to qualify and attend this event as the USYF is moving from Regional programs to a more geographically focused program with 20 States participating. We want to make it easier to identify the top Futsal players in the USA and this will create a more comprehensive out reach, which will feed more players into the program.”

“It is great to see Keith Tozer sharing this technical leadership and years of experience with these players,” said Parry. “USYF strong believes in educating coaches and players and developing the game of Futsal in the USA.

The U.S. Youth Futsal National Teams that will travel to Colombia:

U.S. Youth Futsal U18 Bo

GOALKEEPERS (2): Hamza Ababneh (Midlothian, Vir.), Austin Iddon (Jeannette, Pa.),

OUTFIELD PLAYERS (10): Alec Bakkeby (San Diego), Pablo Blanco (Holland, Mich.), Aidan Dorton (Kansas City, Mo.), Josue Galvez (San Francisco), Elias Humel (Henderson, Ky.), Jerman Juarez (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Ryan Palmbaum (Roseville, Calif.), Sagan Patarroyo-White (Lexington, Mass.), Matthew Sherman (Pinckney, Mich.), Paul Whitener (Kansas City, Mo.)

COACH: Otto Orf (Kent, Ohio)

U.S. Youth Futsal U16 Boys

GOALKEEPERS (2): Raul Aguilar Lizarraga (San Diego), Owen Finnerty (Walled Lake, Mich.)

OUTFIELD PLAYERS (10): Joel Bustamante (Chula Vista, Calif.), Johan Gomez (Keller, Texas), Conner Hollett (Hudson, Ohio), Jonah Moore (Stafford, Va.), Elias Ordonez (Cincinnati), Esai Palacios (San Diego), Byron Peng (Coppell, Texas), Joseph Raasch (Germantown, Wisc.), Alexander Vivar (San Diego), Szabolcs Wiksell (Richfield, Ohio)

COACH: Jose Fabian Rodriguez (Wyoming, Mich.)

U.S. Youth Futsal U16 Girls

GOALKEEPERS (2): Braeleigh McCoy (Ada, Mich.), Grace Powell (Daniel Island, S.C.)

OUTFIELD PLAYERS (8): Tiffany Bernot (Old Westbury, N.Y.), Taylor Carter (West Friendship, Md.), Sunniva Dunagan (Saint Paul, Minn.), Tabitha Galliani (Manassas, Va.), Felicia Knox (Shawnee, Kan.), Emily Sanders (Coram, N.Y.), Rachel Schleicher (Charlotte, N.C.), Caitlin Violet (Oak Hill, Va.)

COACH: Jason Miller (Sudbury, Mass.)

U.S. Youth Futsal U14 Boys

GOALKEEPERS (2): Derek Liguori (McMurray, Pa.), Carter Watson (TOWN)

OUTFIELD PLAYERS (10): Nicholas Barzacchini (Avon, Ohio), Will Bencic (West Chester, Ohio), Micah Gundale (Minneapolis), Luke High (Lenexa, Kan.), Tucker Lepley (Charlotte, N.C.), Christian Nydegger (Highland, Utah), Arquimides Ordonez (Cincinnati), Daniel Vrablic (Avon, Ohio), Nathan Vrablic (Avon, Ohio), Aidan Wolf (Cleveland Heights, Ohio)

COACH: Soorena Farboodmanesh (Wellesley, Mass.)

U.S. Youth Futsal U14 Girls

GOALKEEPERS (2): Samantha Casey (TOWN), Lorelei Logan (Albuequerque, N.M.),

OUTFIELD PLAYERS (6): Zhanna Dunagan (Saint Paul, Minn.), Alyssa Huynh (San Diego), Riana Kitchen (San Marcos, Calif.), Allie Mairn (Grand Rapids, Mich.), Emma Pope (Concord, N.H.), Jessica Velasco Guzman (Cottage Grove, Minn.)

COACH: Jeffrey Lamy (Lowell, Mass.)

U.S. Youth Futsal U13 Girls

GOALKEEPERS (2): Brooke Collins (Leavenworth, Kan.), Alex Pike (Weare, N.H.)

OUTFIELD PLAYERS (6): Kiley Fitzgerald (Glen Allen, Va.), Mollie Franklin (Framingham, Mass.), Brooke Haarala (Framingham, Mass.), Ava Hellner (Waxhaw, N.C.), Abigale Lynch (Glen Allen, Va.), Taylor Rank (Lowell, Mich.)

COACH: Ty Stauffer (Owensboro, Ky.)

Related Coverage: U.S. YOUTH FUTSAL FULL LIST OF TOP NATIONAL PLAYERS

Source/Photo Credit: Diane Scavuzzo for U.S. Youth Futsal and Le Huynh – Girls USYF Images