Tozer announces 14-player roster for CONCACAF qualifier

CHICAGO -- U.S. Futsal National Team head coach Keith Tozer named a 14-player roster for the 2012 CONCACAF Futsal Championship, including 17-year-old Lucas Stauffer.

Stauffer is the first American player developed through youth futsal competition in this country, including the U.S. Youth Futsal national championships in Kansas City.

The team will face Panama at 8 p.m. ET on July 2, the winner of a playoff between Canada and El Salvador at 8 p.m. ET on July 3, and host Guatemala at 10 p.m. ET on July 4 in Group A. The CONCACAF Futsal Championship serves as the qualifying tournament for the 2012 FIFA Futsal World Cup.

Four teams will qualify from CONCACAF to the FIFA Futsal World Cup, which will take place Nov. 1-18 in Nakhon Ratchasima and Bangkok, Thailand.

“I think we’re a very fit team, a strong team and a team that is physically prepared,” said Tozer. “A lot of these players come from professional teams in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They have won championships in Baltimore, they have won championships in Milwaukee, they have won championships in a lot of the other cities they come from. I think their professional pedigree will also help in this tournament as we carry on and run through it.”

Roster by Position:

GOALKEEPERS (2): Boris Pardo (Missouri Comets), Daniel Waltman (Missouri Comets)

DEFENDERS (4): Patrick Healey (Baltimore Blast), Ptah Myers (Baltimore Blast), Sandre Naumoski (unattached), Kevin Teneyck (Wichita Wings)

MIDFIELDERS (5): Bryan Perez (Wichita Wings), Angel Rivillo (Wichita Wings), Nelson Santana (Syracuse Silver Knights), Lucas Stauffer (unattached), Matthew Stewart (Milwaukee Wave)

FORWARDS (3): Kraig Chiles (San Diego Sockers), Machel Millwood (Baltimore Blast), Bato Radoncic (Missouri Comets)

Roster Notes:

•  U.S. head coach Keith Tozer leads the team to his fifth consecutive CONCACAF Futsal Championship, having been at the helm of the squad since 1996.

• Ptah Myers, Sandre Naumoski and Matthew Stewart have previous CONCACAF Fustal Championship experience, having participated in the 2004 edition of the tournament.

• Lucas Stauffer is the youngest player on the roster and the only one born in the 1990s. The 17-year-old plays for Shattuck-St. Mary’s of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy.

• Thirteen of the players on the squad traveled to Guatemala for a four-game training camp from June 3-9, with only Sandre Naumoski missing the trip.

• Waltman, Stauffer, Stewart and Kraig Chiles all participated in the 2011 Grand Prix of Futsal last October in Manaus, Brazil.