Editor's View: What the Tozer-USYF Partnership Really Means

By David Knopf
Futsal World Editor

It's about a week now since United States Youth Futsal announced that Keith

Tozer, the national team and Milwaukee Wave coach, had agreed to become USYF's first technical advisor.

Rivers will continue to flow in the same direction and Miley Cyrus's latest indiscretion will lead my Yahoo news feed, but it's hard to imagine better news.

Let's begin with what's been discussed most -- what it will mean for the national team program. For now, the answer lies no further than Tozer's newest, most promising USFNT player, Luke Stauffer. 

Stauffer used his own initiative and father's support to attend the first Futsal I.D. Camp Tozer held in California. But it's also true that in addition to being a gifted outdoor player for the U.S. Soccer Development Academy team at Stattuck-St. Mary's, Luke played futsal for his father at an early age and benefited from the USYF experience.

Since that camp, Stauffer played in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament (at age 16), but more importantly scored two decisive goals for the U.S. in its championship win over Poland at the Four Nations Futsal Tournament in England.

And he's just the start. Thanks to his new post as USYF technical director and the division of the U.S. into regions with designated USYF regional directors (more on that later), Tozer will have an almost unlimited, organized pool from which to draw talented players with futsal experience.

These regions will pull players with high aspirations and talent from 59 USYF leagues in almost 30 states, with more being added regularly. Tozer has already conducted a USYF-affiliated Futsal I.D. Camp in Kansas City and has one scheduled Sept. 27-29 in the Akron/Cleveland area and another Oct. 18-20 in Boston. 

The camps are all linked to successful USYF leagues -- KC Futsal in Kansas City, Otto Orf's leagues in the Cleveland area and Jason Miller/Soorena Farboodmanesh's in Massachusetts.

These camps may identify another player or two who, like Luke Stauffer, have the ability to transition immediately to national team consideration, but the long-term vision is to identify talent in six age groups (three boys, three girls) and have them form regional teams. Once the teams are formed and learn the basics of Tozer's system, they'll begin to compete against each other, as well as regional age- and gender-specific teams from the other regions -- Dallas, San Diego and Kansas City.

Eventually, Tozer and National Director Jon Parry say, the regional youth teams will meet in their own national competition with the best players in each age groups being invited to play on youth national teams. Those teams, with the best identified talent from each region assembled in one place, would then become U.S. Soccer-affiliated national teams to compete here and overseas against other national youth teams.

U.S. Soccer will have to sign off on that, but with its inclusion of futsal in the Development Academy's U13/14 program it would seem they'd be interested.

Having youth national futsal teams is a bit down the road, but now that the blueprint's drawn and regional directors identified, things are likely to begin moving sooner rather than later. As Tozer said in an interview with Futsal World, the regional structure could well expand beyond the present five regions to accommodate new USYF leagues and the breadth of a very large country.

The fact that the U.S. is large and therefore more difficult to scout is ultimately good news rather than bad.

The other side of the coin -- one not mentioned quite as readily -- is what Tozer's affiliation means for USYF. For starters, the organization is already a U.S. Soccer affiliate, which ties it to FIFA and an international network of futsal rules, competitions and improvements. And the fact that Tozer is a FIFA Futsal Instructor, the first from the U.S., only strengthens his credentials and the organization's prestige.

Having him involved in player development and coaching education is clearly a huge benefit for USYF, placing what was already a progressive national network of leagues farther ahead of the competition. Ask yourself, if you had a league and wanted to consider affiliation -- even for something as pragmatic as the availability of player, coach and facility insurance -- wouldn't you choose the organization with the U.S. Futsal National Team coach on its staff?

One person who commented on Tozer's affiliation with USYF -- but asked not to be named because of his sensitive position -- put it very directly.

"I think it's a huge announcement for USYF because you've brought on the U.S. National Team coach," he said.

Were this outdoor soccer and Jürgen Klinsmann did something similar, imagine the instant boost it would provide to whatever organization he joined. Same here with Tozer, just on a futsal scale.

Daily newspapers might not immediately get it, but futsal-savvy media such as Soccer America, Futsal-on-Line, Futsal Focus and Futsal Planet immediately grasped the significance of the Tozer-USYF partnership. 

USYF's lucky to have the national team coach, just as Tozer's fortunate to have USYF. It's a good working relationship, and for people who care about the future of futsal in the U.S. -- not to mention the benefits for developing outdoor players --  it is a match made in futsal heaven.

Have a reaction to this story or others? Feel free to write and share your views at davidknopf48@gmail.com.