The U.S. head coach: The USA could become one of the best futsal nations in the world!
The United States of America is arguably the most successful sports nation of all time, with 1,127 gold medals on the Olympic Games (Summer and Winter) and 2,827 in total. Just to make a comparison, the second most successful country is the former Soviet Union (1,204 medals, 473 golds) and third is Germany with 1098 medals, out of which 350 are gold medals. So, the US has almost more gold medals than the Soviet Union (473), Russia (195), Germany (350, 67 as West Germany) and East Germany (192) — combined!
The US is by far the most dominant nation in their national sports such as American football, baseball, basketball and they are one of the best nations in hockey (with the greatest national league).
Soccer is, according to some studies, the fifth most popular sport in the US, with Major Soccer League having bigger average attendance than the NBA and NHL. Ok, it is reasonable since football/soccer stadiums are much bigger than basketball/hockey arenas, but you see the point… Americans love soccer!
And what about futsal? Hey, this is where our interview starts…
Futsal World Cup in Brazil 2008 was the last on which the U.S. national team participated. They lost all four games with a goal-difference 5:24. However, when we look at the beginning of futsal history, the USA clinched silver and bronze medal on the first two World Cups! In 1989 they defeated Belgium (3:2) in the match for the third place, and three years later (1992) lost in finals against Brazil (1:4).
So, we asked Dušan Jakica, a native Serbian who recently become the U.S. futsal team’s head coach, how come that the U.S. was one of the biggest futsal powers back then, and now is, we can say, an amateur futsal nation?
“Americans have a big tradition of playing indoor soccer. At the beginning of futsal, American professional outdoor soccer was in a state of disarray but the U.S. had really strong indoor soccer leagues. Some of the players from the former Yugoslavia also played, out of which Hajduk Split’s football star Slaviša Žungul was maybe most famous. There were also many Europeans, British and South Americans and they were paid quite well. Therefore, because of the popularity and high level of indoor soccer professionals in the country, the United States was able to field one of the best teams during the beginnings of futsal“, said Jakica, a mechanical engineer by profession, and continued:
“But, as the game of futsal developed, Americans remained to play only indoor soccer and because of the fall of the MISL at a level much lower in quality than in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Thus the difference between the two sports has grown in America. Futsal has strongly changed since I have played it, and I didn’t play it such a long while ago. While other nations dedicated themselves to playing and studying futsal, Americans remained keen on playing the boarded indoor soccer game“, Dušan Jakica explains in the hotel lobby of Poreč’s hotel where we took our interview.
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