CHICAGO (May 9, 2019) – U.S. Beach Soccer National Team head coach Eddie Soto has finalized the USA’s 12-man roster for the 2019 Concacaf Beach Soccer Championship, which will be played in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico from May 13-19. The top two teams will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, to be held in Paraguay this November.
The USA will face Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda and Bonaire in Group C play:
The top two teams from each of the four groups will advance to the knockout stage. The two finalists will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
Soto’s group carries a wealth of experience in this competition. Forwards Ryan Futagaki, Jason Leopoldo, Nick Perera and goalkeeper Chris Toth were all on the 2013 Concacaf Beach Championship winning side that qualified the USA for its last FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup berth.
U.S. Roster by Position:
GOALKEEPERS (2): Juan Cervantes (Los Angeles, Calif.), Chris Toth (Fallbrook, Calif.)
DEFENDERS (5): Oscar Reyes (Santa Ana, Calif.), Jason Santos (Cardiff by the Sea, Calif.), Adriano Dos Santos (Baltimore, Md.), David Mondragon (Santa Cruz, Calif.), Tanner Akol (Santa Cruz, Calif.)
FORWARDS (5): Alessandro Canale (Venice, Calif.), Ryan Futagaki (Huntington Beach, Calif.), Jason Leopoldo (Scottsdale, Ariz.), Nick Perera (Carlsbad, Calif.), Franck Tayou (Las Vegas, Nev.)
“The last cycle we were one game shy of going to the World Cup, so that weighed heavily on the group and the experience that we have,” Soto said of the assembling the roster. “It was a process. We have a lot of young guys that have been coming into the mix that have shown really well, and I think these guys are ready. Having a mixture of these young guys like Tanner Akol and David Mondragon are going to meld well with some of our veterans like Nick Perera and Chris Toth.”
ROSTER NOTES:
GROUPS AT THE CONCACAF BEACH CHAMPIONSHIP:
Group A – Mexico, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Guatemala
Group B – Panama, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos, U.S. Virgin Islands
Group C – USA, Bonaire, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas
Group D – El Salvador, Guadalupe, Belize, Gyana
The top two teams in each group after round robin play advance to the quarterfinals. The two finalists will qualify for the 2019 FIFA Beach World Cup in Paraguay.
HISTORY OF BEACH CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFYING:
The first official FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was held in 2005 and played every year for the first five years. Teams from Concacaf and Conmebol combined for an ‘Americas Championship’ to determine its four participants for the inaugural Beach World Cup.
Concacaf held its first stand-alone Beach Soccer Championship as a World Cup qualifying tournament in 2006, before the two confederations joined again in 2007. Since then Concacaf has held its own Championship, including in 2008 and 2009. The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup has been a bi-annual event since 2011, with Concacaf holding Beach Championships in 2010 (for the 2011 World Cup), 2013, 2015, 2017 and this year.
Winners of the seven stand-alone Concacaf Beach Soccer Championships: USA (2006, 2013); Mexico (2008, 2010, 2015); El Salvador (2009); Panama (2017)
USA QUALIFYING AND WORLD CUP HISTORY:
The U.S. has qualified for four of nine FIFA Beach World Cups all-time: 2005 Brazil, 2006 Brazil, 2007 Brazil and 2013 Tahiti.
The USA did not qualify for the 2008 FIFA World Cup in France, 2009 in United Arab Emirates, 2011 in Italy, 2013 in Portugal, or 2015 in Bahamas.