USA: A little exciting and a little scary to play against top favorites
“Arena soccer is the dominant form of minifootball in the US and we are just now starting to plant the seeds for minifootball and the seven-a-side which is popular with our southern neighbors in Mexico. But arena soccer has been played professionally and recreationally for over 40 years in the US” – as shared by the Social Media staff member of the Team USA, Sydney Nusinov.
Within the USA team, there will as well be:
Mr. Kevin Milliken, President; Bernie Lilavois, General Manager; Dominic Turcotte, Operations; Phil Salvagio, Head Coach; Armando Gamboa and Craig Rhodis, Coaches; Craig Elsten, Media Director and Chiky Luna, Administration.
After winning the WMF World Cup when it was played in an arena soccer format, and tough times in Tunisia in 2017 and Guatemala in qualifying – the pressure of ambition to become a champion is off the shoulders of the team USA, and their tactics is to try to beat the other countries at their own game.
As Mr. Nusinov continues: “a lot of things can change in two years”, meaning that after 2017, there may be other teams than usual favorites went ahead. However, his prediction is that the Czech Republic and Mexico could be the favorites, as they had impressive performance in 2017.
Playing with these two teams brings both excitement and fear, so it would be maybe good to avoid playing with the Czech Republic in knock out phase, but meet Mexico in the finals, as it would boost the energy around their rivalry.
G – Boris Pardo (San Diego Sockers)
D – Adriano Dos Santos (Baltimore Blast)
D – Drew Ruggles (Florida Tropics)
D – Uzi Tayou (Ontario Fury)
D – Israel Sesay (Ontario Fury)
M – Brian Farber (San Diego Sockers)
M – Gordy Gurson (Florida Tropics)
M – Kraig Chiles (San Diego Sockers)
M – Travis Pittman (San Diego Sockers)
M – Slavisa Ubiparipovic (Utica City FC)
M – Jermaine Jones (Ontario Fury)
F – Franck Tayou (Ontario Fury)
F – VcMor Eligwe (Dallas Sidekicks)
F – Taylor Bond (San Diego Sockers)
HC – Phil Salvagio (San Diego Sockers)
AC – Craig Rhodis (Cincinnati Swerve)
AC – Armando Gamboa (Chicago Mustangs)
AT – Paul Savage (San Diego Sockers)
Pres – Kevin Milliken (AAS567, PASL)
GM – Bernie Lilavois (AAS567, Ontario Fury)
Admin – Chiky Luna (San Diego Sockers)
Ops – Dominic Turcotte (AAS567, PASL)
Broadcaster – Craig Elsten (San Diego Sockers)
Media – Sydney Nusinov (Turf and Boards)
