Tim Sheldon
Media Relations Representative
U.S. Futsal Federation
P.O. Box 40077
Berkeley, CA 94704
800-405-0097 voice/fax
Tshel@aol.com
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Before he played in the World Indoor Championship in Hong Kong in 1992, Jeff Agoos did not know much, if anything about Futsal. It was a brand new experience for him, but he adapted to the game quickly and is now a strong advocate of the sport. If his soccer schedule permits, Agoos will appear in the next FIFA World Championship, which will take place in Spain from Nov. 24 through December 11. The specific sites will be chosen in September. Futsal is the World Indoor Game. It is played without the use of dasherboards, and that caught Agoos by surprise when he first tried the game. "The first time I played Futsal was with the 1992 team, and it was interesting," he said "There's a lot of skill involved and a lot of tactics. We actually came into that whole thing as one of the favorites. The Futsal game is something that I had never had a chance to experience. It was totally different from anything I'd ever done. It was a combination of indoor and outdoor. In a very small environment. It was very difficult at first, but once we figured out the nuances we did pretty well. "It's a different game. It's not outdoor soccer. It's not indoor soccer the way we've played it in the U.S. I enjoyed it because it had more to do with outdoor soccer than indoor soccer with the boards did. I definitely enjoyed it." The 27-year-old, two-time All-American from the University of Virginia is a defender for Major League Soccer's D.C. United and does not get heavily involved in the offense. But what he experienced in Futsal was quite different. "In Futsal you really don't have set positions." he said. "It's four on four plus a goalkeeper. You're interchanging with everybody. There are no hard and fast rules of where you're going to be. The majority of the time I'm going to be in the back, but also I have the opportunity to go forward a lot of the time. Because we're holding the ball as much as possible. It's really interchangable. I would not say there's an anchor type position like I have in outdoor. I have a lot more chances to get shots on goal. I had two goals in the first game in Hong Kong against Argentina. Even thoough we lost to Brazil in the final we were very pleased with what we did." One of the strengths of that 1992 team was its good chemistry, Agoos said. "It was a great time for us because we had a great bunch of guys and a good coach that we respected and had a lot of fun with. When we got going in the tournament, a lot of teams looked to us to see how we were playing. And they tried to duplicate how we played. It's always been my experience with national teams that we would look at other teams and try to copy them. It was a nice experience for other teams to look at us and look up to us." The U.S. lost to Brazil in the quarterfinals and again in the final, and the Dallas native said he came home with a greater understanding of why the Brazilians are so good indoors and out. "It was unbelievable. They actually have a league for this and they were all basically professionals. They were the most talented team there.They had a ton of skill and knew how to play the game. They grow up playing Futsal and playing on the beach. I definitely think it translates into their outdoor game." Agoos described what Futsal looks like on the larger, outdoor field. "Basically their outdoor game is 20 or 30 Futsal games put onto that field. That's what it turns into for them. They like to play in tight spaces and work the ball through their midfield and keep the ball and have a lot of flair. That's basically the Futsal game." Agoos said that despite the Brazilians' brilliance a World Indoor Championshilp is within reach for the U.S. "I think we have to get a bunch of talented guys together like we did before, get a good chemistry between us and get used to playing together. Get used to playing Futsal together. That's the most import thing. "I think (U.S. Indoor Coach) John Kowalsky definitely has a much better view of how the game should be played after doing it two or three times. He's very experienced in this. More than any other coach in the United States. As far as the players are concerned, the players I played with in '92, I don't know if all of them will be around. It's going to be interesting to see who gets in the starting lineup and how they relate to each other." An earlier connection with Kowalsky led Agoos to the U.S. Indoor Team. He played under the indoor coach when he was the interim national team coach for the U.S. World Cup Team in 1991. "He'd seen me play indoor in the Major Soccer League (MSL) for the Dallas Sidekicks. He invited me in to take a look at me and see how I fit into the team. Things went well and I had a good showing. Things fell into place at that point." Preparing for the 1992 World Championship, the U.S. Team played some indoor games against professional teams at that time, Agoos said. "It was indoor soccer as played in the U.S. It wasn't Futsal. Then we played a team in a Futsal sort of competition the next day. We were basically training as an indoor team hoping to play Futsal. Hoping that it would come together when we had to do it. "I think it would have been better if we'd played primarily the Futsal game. We would have gotten a lot more used to the strategy and different tactics involved. It was a matter of getting used to it." After having experienced Futsal, Agoos recommends it as a skill-developer for youth players. "I think it would be great. It basically would do for them what it does for the Brazilians. I think it would be a great thing to do.When you're a young player you have to develop your technique and as you get older you develop your tactics. When the players are young, putting them in small spaces in a four-by-four and five-by-five environment is very good for them." The D.C. United defender said he could see the game being played in college as well. "The colleges definitely need to play a longer season, so if you could incorporate a game such as Futsal where you're playing more than two-and-a-half months out of the year, I would agree with it. I'm definitely in favor if it keeps the team together and keeps them training." Agoos said that he will continue to try to work Futsal into his busy outdoor schedule. "I would like to be involved in the national team in any aspect," he said, "whether it's outdoor or indoor. It basically helps me do whatever I can for soccer in general in this country. If it's indoor, it's indoor and if it's outdoor, it's outdoor. I would definitely enjoy doing both."
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