MACSA Futsal Has Strong Showing at
2007 U.S. Futsal National Championships

A number of teams from MACSA Futsal of San Jose, California participated in the XXII 2007 U.S. Futsal National Championships in Anaheim, California. MACSA Futsal is part of the Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) which cultivates health, education and culture in the San Jose, California area. MACSA Futsal was defending champion in a number of age groups, so each game was a battle to the end. One player from another team was quoted as saying that the most memorable games of the tournament were against MACSA.

Mario Gonzalez, Director of Futsal for MACSA and coach said that he was impressed by how well organized this years tournament was and at the quality of the competition and encourages other leagues and teams to get more involved with Futsal. The skills, strategy and tactics of some of the teams were impressive and a credit to how popular Futsal is becoming in the U.S.A., Mario said after the end of the tournament.

Four MACSA Futsal teams were crowned 2007 U.S. Futsal National Champions and three teams were U.S. National Finalists. The MACSA 2007 U.S. Futsal National Champions and U.S. National Finalist are as follows:

U10 Boys ---> National Finalist
U10 Girls --> National Finalist
U12 Boys ---> National Champions
U12 Girls --> National Champions
U16 Boys ---> National Finalists
U16 Girls --> National Champions
U 19 Men ---> National Champions

For the MACSA Futsal family it was an especially satisfying tournament for all the families involved supporting the MACSA Futsal teams. Seen throughout the tournament play were MACSA families in their trademark yellow t-shirts with the MACSA logo imprinted. Another highlight was having MACSA Futsal alumni, Enrique Tovar volunteer as coach for the U19 Boys, U19 Girls, and U10 Girls teams. Enrique is also a member of the U.S. National Futsal Team as well as member of the MISL California Cougars. It’s great to see alumni helping a program after they have gone on to higher levels of futsal and soccer, said Mario Gonzalez of MACSA. Assisting Coach Tovar with the U19 Girls and U10 Girls and also assisting Coach Gonzalez with the U15 Boys was another MACSA Futsal alumni and current MACSA Youth Sports Center staff member Noe Guzman. Coach Noe was also a member of the U19 Men’s MACSA 2007 U.S. National Championship team. For Edwin Luna, volunteer coach for the 2007 U12 Boys and U16 Girls U.S. National Championship teams the U12 Boy’s championship game was an especially rewarding experience since most of the U12 Boys team members were new to the team because a number of the boy’s that were on last year’s championship team could not participate in the tournament due to other family and personal commitments. Coach Luna said that many in the community didn’t give the U12 Boys team a chance of winning the championship. However, he knew what the boy’s were capable of as a team and they stuck with the basic game plan along with the determination of the team, the U12 Boy’s were able to defend and kick their way into the championship and ended the tournament with an impressive four shut-outs and 18 goals for and two goals against. However, by the end of the tournament, Coach Luna could barely talk because his voice was hoarse from all the cheering and coaching on the sidelines.






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com