Major Indoor Soccer League...A Step in the Right Direction?

Speaking of futsal and indoor soccer; I recently read an article attempting to connect the apparent lack of a current English phenom skill player (such as Ronaldinho or Cristiano Ronaldo) to the unpopularity of futsal in England. While the correlation may seem a tad far fetched, it touches on some pretty interesting concepts.

Many of the best players in the world start their footballing lives playing in the street--they learn control, acquire quick vision and develop comfort for the ball at their feet in tight situations. It's no surprise that playing in less than ideal conditions fosters a creativity that you cannot coach into players. Futsal or indoor soccer fosters this same creativity through its fast paced and cramped style of play. Brazil, Spain, Portugal and Italy all have highly popular professional futsal leagues, as well as extensive developmental youth leagues. Their emphasis on futsal as a developmental tool may have more to do with the prevalence of skilled soccer players from these countries than previously thought.

Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) as well as youth and developmental futsal programs could prove extremely useful in the long run for American soccer--especially if they mocked the successful programs in South American and in Europe. They could help groom young players that are more inclined to the a quick, aggressive style of play. Here in the United States, like England, futsal is not extremely popular, but for the first time in soccer history the United States has a chance to succeed in something that England has not. We must not marginalize futsal. The longer we place an importance on futsal, the quicker we will see the creativity that it fosters percolate into our own leagues and national teams.

No, MISL is not going to be creating the next American Ronaldo overnight, but its a start. In order for American soccer to continue to grow and develop, we need to take advantage of all aspects of the sport. In the long run who knows, maybe one day a world class American soccer player will be crediting his success to his time on the futsal court. Only time will tell.

Until then Happy Holidays from Soccer On The Brain.