CHICAGO – The U.S. futsal men’s national team will face Cuba, El Salvador and either Nicaragua or Puerto Rico in Group D play at the 2020 Concacaf Futsal Championship from May 1-10 in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Concacaf conducted the draw for its futsal championship tournament that will send four teams to the 2020 FIFA Futsal World Cup Thursday at its headquarters in Miami.

The U.S. futsal MNT will travel to Porec, Croatia from Feb. 25-March 8 for two friendlies against Slovenia on Feb. 28 and 29 and to participate in the Futsal Week Winter Cup. The friendlies and tournament will help U.S. Futsal MNT head coach Dusan Jakica and his staff determine the members of the squad that will attempt to qualify for the USA’s first Futsal World Cup since 2008.

“The international games in Croatia are going to be critical for us in preparing our final roster for World Cup qualifying,” Jakica said. “In the past six months we’ve had three domestic camps and seven identification training events, and we’ve looked at more than 500 players. We are excited about the dedicated group of players we have selected for this important test.”

The roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): Eduardo Macias (Dallas, Texas), Diego Moretti (Ancona, Italy), Estevan Vasquez (Fortworth, Texas)

ALAS (9): Alan Acevedo (Hicksville, N.Y.), Diego Bobadilla-Mireles (Holland, Mich.), Nik Djokic (Brighton, Mich.), Jonathan Navarro (San Francisco, Calif.), Billy O’Dwyer (Dallas, Texas), Jonathon Orlando (Cheverly, Md.), Tomas Pondeca (Dallas, Texas), Ryan Russell (Waldorf, Md.), Joey Tavernese Jr. (Garden City, N.Y.)

FIXOS (3): Eduardo Buenfil (San Jose, Calif.), Julian Escobar (Hicksville, N.Y.), Lee Mitchell (Martinez, Calif.)

PIVOS (4): Raphael Araujo (Bound Brook, N.J.), Daniel Mattos (Chicago, Ill.), Luis Pinto (Kansas City, Kan.), Gabe Silveira (San Francisco, Calif.)

The U.S. will kick off the Concacaf Futsal Championship against El Salvador on Monday, May 4, face the qualifying round winner, either Nicaragua or Puerto Rico, on May 5 and wrap up group play versus Cuba on May 6. Kickoff times and broadcast information for all matches will be announced by Concacaf at a later date.

 

2020 Concacaf Futsal Championship – Guatemala City, Guatemala
USA – Group D Schedule

Date Opponent Venue
May 4 El Salvador Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium
May 5 Nicaragua vs. Puerto Rico winner Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium
May 6 Cuba Teodoro Palacios Flores Gymnasium

Guatemala, Panama, Costa Rica and Cuba were placed in Pot 1 for the draw as the competition’s four highest-ranked teams as of February’s Concacaf Futsal Rankings, while Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, Canada and the USA were seeded in Pot 2.

Group A Group B Group C Group D
Guatemala Panama Costa Rica Cuba
Trinidad and Tobago Mexico Canada USA
Guadeloupe Curacao Haiti El Salvador
Winner Matchup 1 Winner Matchup 2 Winner Matchup 3 Winner Matchup 4

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.