U.S. futsal national team head coach Dusan Jakica has selected 16 players to represent the United States at the 2021 FIFA Futsal World Cup in Lithuania. The team will hold a pre-tournament training camp from Sept. 1-8 in Bratislava, Slovakia before traveling to Vilnius, Lithuania- site of the USA’s first two World Cup matches.

The roster is led by captain and veteran goalkeeper Diego Moretti, who has played futsal professionally in Italy for the last 17 years. Luciano Gonzalez (Italy) and Tomas Pondeca (France) also play futsal in Europe. Gonzalez led the USA with five combined goals and assists at May’s Concacaf Futsal Championship in Guatemala, while the 19-year-old Pondeca, who leads the team with six goals this cycle, was named Young Player of the Tournament.

Twelve players on the roster helped the USA qualify for its first Futsal World Cup since 2008- including all eight goal-scorers- by defeating the Dominican Republic 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Concacaf Futsal Championship. The Futsal NT finished runner-up to Costa Rica at the qualifying tournament.

The roster

GOALKEEPERS (3): 1-Diego Moretti (Ancona, Italy; Unattached), 11-Robert Damron (Northville, Mich.; Michigan Futsal Factory), 12-Estevan Vazquez (Fort Worth, Texas; Mesquite Outlaws)

ALAS (7): 3-Jeremy Klepal (Lansing, Mich.; Lansing City FC), 6-Luciano Gonzalez (Mendoza, Argentina; Citta di Massa C5/ITA), 8-Daniel Mattos (Chicago, Ill.; Milwaukee Wave), 9-David Ortiz (Dallas, Texas; Dallas Sidekicks), 10-Tomas Pondeca (Dallas, Texas; Paris Acasa/FRA), 14-Diego Bobadilla-Mireles (Holland, Mich.; St. Louis Ambush), 16-Alencar Ventura-Junior (Tewksbury, Mass.; Safira Futsal)

FIXOS (3): 4-Eduardo Buenfil (San Jose, Calif.; Unattached), 5-Julian Escobar (Hicksville, NY; Harrisburg Heat), 15-Guilherme Veiga (Milwaukee, Wisc.; Milwaukee Wave)

PIVOS (3): 2-Raphael Araujo (Bound Brook, N.J.; NY Ecuador FC), 7-Everson Maciel (Milford, Conn.; Safira Futsal), 13-Zach Reget (Kenosha, Wisc.; Florida Tropics)

Head Coach: Dusan Jakica
Assistant Coaches: Pablo Da Silva, Otto Orf

The Futsal NT was drawn into Group F of the 24-team World Cup field and will face Argentina, Iran and Serbia.

USA SCHEDULE – GROUP F

Tuesday, Sept. 14 – USA vs. Argentina (Vilnius Arena; Vilnius, Lithuania)
Friday, Sept. 17 – USA vs. Iran (Vilnius Arena; Vilnius, Lithuania)
Monday, Sept. 20 – USA vs. Serbia (Klaipeda Arena; Klaipeda, Lithuania)

This year marks the USA’s sixth appearance at the FIFA Futsal World Cup. The U.S. finished third in 1989 and reached the final of the 1992 tournament, taking home the silver medal in its highest-ever finish at the competition. The USA’s other FIFA Futsal World Cup appearances came in 1996, 2004 and 2008.

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.