Futsal club continues to make a name for itself

The sound of sneakers fills the gymnasium as pass after pass is made. The ball zips across the court. The player receives it, dribbles and fires another sharp pass.

This is just another typical night for the USC Futsal team, the university’s indoor soccer club. It’s a Wednesday night practice, and practice makes perfect. There’s more agility and fancy footwork than Christiano Ronaldo can bargain for. The pace is quick — one flutter of the eye and the ball is cutting through the air to the back of the miniature version of what seems to be a soccer goal.

Raising the bar · The USC Futsal team, seen here at the Presidents Day Cup competition, continues to gain popularity and recognition. - Photo courtesy of USC Futsal team

The futsal club is a relatively young club at USC. It was started only four years ago, but its popularity since then has been on the rise — and so has its ambition.

“Going from not even being a sport on campus or anything that the school has heard of to having 80 guys come out for tryouts is a really good thing for us,” said senior Dustin Tetzl, president of the club.

In two of its first four seasons, the team placed second in the men’s league. No team wants to be second best — especially twice in a row — and the Trojans were no exception.

“Second place is just first to lose,” said senior Henrique Malvar, who also serves as the team’s coach.

The coach’s disdain for the past season has translated into a burning desire to be number one.

This year is different from past years. The spirits are high and the team expects and hungers for champion status.

“We have physicality, we have speed and we have some players with excellent ball skills,” Tetzl said.

With the team improving every game, and from the display at their practice, the No. 1 spot may be within reach this season.

“I do see us winning the league. I have no question about winning the league,” Malavar said. The Nike 5 Tournament is another thing. Hopefully we will win it.”

Even though the team is in great shape and has high hopes, Malvar continues to push the team to be better.

“We can improve. There are only a few games where we have played how we are supposed to, even though we’ve won 10-1, 9-1,” Malvar said.

Malvar knows his team has much work to do, especially if they are to take first place at the Nike 5 Tournament. Despite its progress, the team still has its kryptonite.

“[Attacking] is also our weakness; since most of the players are forward or attacking midfield players, our defense is definitely our weakness,” Malvar said.

Despite lacking in the defensive department, there is an enormous improvement from prior seasons.

“The way we have been playing this year is miles better than we had in the past,” Malvar said.

The credit to this success has been the new changes that were brought on this season.

The team has adopted the Brazilian philosophy of joga bonito — play beautifully. With this newfound philosophy at the core of their style of soccer, the team’s overall way of playing the game has changed.

“Keeping the ball has been a big tactical change. We want to always have the ball and try to play nice and beautiful every single time,” Malvar said.

Possession is key in the Trojans’ success. As Malvar had pointed out, because of the small space in futsal, playing the ball back — as opposed to always attacking forward — is actually desired and preferred in order to have better success at scoring.

The success of the futsal team to date has captured the attention of the futsal world.

“We were invited to a tournament in New Zealand, unfortunately it was over the summer and a bad time for the players,” Malvar said.

With invitations to high-level tournaments, the USC Futsal team is slowly making itself into one of the elite teams in the nation. To prove and develop their skills further, the Trojans are currently working to set up the first intercollegiate tournament here in California.

Whether the Trojan Futsal team can fulfill its potential is yet to be seen, but they are certainly not lacking confidence. Although the majority of the squad is composed of upperclassmen, the Futsal team also believes that rookie prospects will carry the torch, allowing the Trojans to continue to dominate in future seasons.