The Other Other Football
Paul Lomanto passes Latin America's indoor soccer craze, futsal, to Portland.
July 23rd, 2008
NIGHT CABBIE • When I step into the obese old woman's apartment3 comments
July 23rd, 2008
Queer Window • Jacob’s ladder | Activist Moves West to Make Bank for Barack2 comments
July 23rd, 2008
SCOOP • Gossip Should Have No Friends | Gossip should have no friends0 comments
July 23rd, 2008
SCOOP • Gossip should have no friends0 comments
July 23rd, 2008
BEST OF PORTLAND: By the People, For the People0 comments
July 16th, 2008
Queer Window • My Big Fat Gay Wallet | When a billfold becomes a way of life.9 comments
July 16th, 2008
Hot Seat • LaJean Lawson | She follows the bouncing breast.3 comments
July 16th, 2008
SCOOP • Gossip should have no friends0 comments
July 9th, 2008
Berry Good | The time’s ripe for DIY pickers. 2 comments
July 9th, 2008
Hot Seat • Darrel Lee | Portland pastor builds near-term empire, fears long-term locusts.2 comments
 ¡OLE! Local coach Matt Atencio demonstrates some aerial futsal skills. IMAGE: CHRIS RYAN |
[August 30th, 2006] First, there are the three shaggy-haired teenage dudes, barefoot on the plastic field, blasting the ball into the net, around the court and into each other. Then, there's the scale: a cavernous old tile factory by the Southeast Portland train tracks, transformed via the magic of fake grass into three indoor soccer courts.
And then, of course, there's the tattoo.
Still fresh, still bloody, the small, red-edged shield on Paul Lomanto's calf is emblazoned with "PORTLAND FUTSAL," the name of this new addition to Portland's soccer scene (check out the tat on the cover of this week's WW). The tat tells you a lot about Lomanto's zeal for his new venture, which hosts a grand-opening celebration tonight, Wednesday, Aug. 30.
As for the rest—the Argentina-born former Wieden & Kennedy ad man's ambition to introduce one of America's strongest soccer markets to an exciting alien breed of the game—Lomanto is eager to elaborate.
"I'd like to think I'm revolutionizing indoor soccer in America," Lomanto says. "I'm offering a model that doesn't quite exist. I want this to be a soccer mecca for Portland."
In a city with a ravenous appetite for the globe's football—witness the World Cup mobs in Pioneer Courthouse Square—thousands of people play the sport's indoor version. (An indoor team is smaller, cheaper and easier to wrangle than a traditional 11-player outdoor squad.) Local arenas like Portland Indoor Soccer and Beaverton's SoccerPlex host hundreds of adult teams, their courts booked solid late into the night. But that phenomenon centers on a peculiarly American game. Hockey-style walls allow caroming passes and—if things get ungentlemanly—defensive moves suspiciously similar to body checks.
That's not how the rest of the world does it. The world plays futsal: the much-different indoor game recognized and regulated by FIFA, soccer's global governing body. Invented in Uruguay in 1930, the game is lightning-fast, played by teams of five, using a small, hard, heavy, low-bouncing ball. With no walls corralling the field, futsal emphasizes control, balletic footwork and the kind of team play that, at its most telepathic, turns soccer into improv performance art.
Futsal crops up here and there in the U.S.; there's a national team, for example, and a popular new complex of courts in Los Angeles. That pales, however, compared with the game's growing importance to international soccer culture. In particular, top Brazilian players—mononymic megastars like Robinho and Ronaldhino who help set the game's gold standard—frequently credit their exuberant creativity to youths spent playing futsal.
Story continues belowadvertisement
"The Brazilians don't even let their kids play the big-field outdoor game until they're 13 or 14," Lomanto, 37, says. "There's not a lot of green open space in the slums of those huge cities. But it's also because playing in tighter spaces just makes you better."
Earlier this month, I saw Robinho play with his team, Spain's historic Real Madrid, in an exhibition game against America's own D.C. United. The 22-year-old Brazilian phenom gave the sold-out crowd in Seattle a demonstration of just what futsal can build. Every time he touched the ball, Robinho rode an invisible pneumatic rocket in a silky-smooth push toward goal, the ball fastened to his boot until he dispatched it with a flick or a backheel.
Robinho spent most of the game tangling with D.C.'s Ben Olsen, who's also a member of the U.S. national team. Olsen is a classic American soccer player: 100 percent heart, tenacious, fearless, kamikazelike in his fighting spirit, reasonably skilled.
The U.S. game—with its emphasis on discipline, fitness, making practice on time—produces a lot of Ben Olsens. And that's not bad. But to date, we have produced exactly zero players like Robinho, capable of temporarily warping time and space with blind passes and paranormal dribbling moves.
Lomanto thinks he knows why. In his old job, he ran the Nike Soccer account for W&K, traveling Latin America to shoot footage of Robinho and other young players who infuse the outdoor game with futsal's speed and intuition.
"Not to dog Ben Olsen, but I'd rather see us create Robinho," he says. "It's like in basketball—would you rather see slow, half-court offense, or would you rather see full-court run 'n' gun?"
And so, while the specifics of Portland Futsal are impressive enough—two full-sized courts; a cute "mini-court"; a mezzanine lounge outfitted with satellite screens, video games and multilingual soccer magazines; a beer garden next spring—the intangibles really get Paul Lomanto fired up. No sane man commemorates his new business with a tattoo unless he intends something special.
"We had our first rental last night—Asian guys, Hispanic guys, Anglos," he says. "They got so many touches on the ball, scored so many goals—they all had smiles on their faces. We had English, Spanish and Korean being spoken in here.
"I put chain link up around the fields because I wanted that gritty urban feel," Lomanto says, rattling a fence. "We'll have speakers up, we'll have samba playing. It's gonna give you a different feel than any other place."
Gee, how many Robinho's has Italy produced? France? England? Germany? Not many, because that's just one way of playing the game. As far as half-court vs. run and gun...how many titles has Dallas, Phoenix, et al? Futsal sounds like a fun way to spend an evening, but let's not expect this game to turn our world fortunes around...
First let me say it's ecouraging to read an article about Soccer (Football) written with a bit of opinion and hype (thx Z.Dundas). Too often in the states both written and televised media on soccer are deviod of any editoral content or bias. Refreshing as this article was, it's fact content regarding both indoor soccer and futsal in the states & abroad had little fact. Coupled with it's magical/mystical theorized notion of player development through playing futsal left this reader feeling like it should of been titled 'SoccerFiction". A good read, but not to be confused with soccer reality.
Let's first address the climate and current composition of indoor soccer in the greater portland/sw washington area. In today's market place there are at least 17+ indoor fields to serve the greater community, not including the 3 fields at Portland Futsal.
Salmon Creek soccer north of Vancouver has 2 fields and nearly 1.5 times the number of teams as the portland area industry leaders in teams; Oregon Soccer Center (clackamas), Tualatin Indoor soocer, Portland Indoor Soccer & Soccer plex(beaverton). After these facilities here is the most recent list of indoor soccer fields: Back to Back-Gresham, Clark County-E.Vanc(2fields, IndoorGoals-Beaverton, MJCC-(Captiol Hill), Hillsboro Indoor-2fields, Sherwood Field House, Hubbard STS Plex-2fields.
Believe it or not Futsal has been played in pdx area community Gyms for at least the past 20 years from 8 year olds to 60 year olds. This is not an alien sport to Portland soccer devotees-local youth clubs FC Portland and Westside Metros have sponsored futsal leagues for the last 5 years and counting. Also Indoor Goals in Beaverton offers Futsal leagues.
Bottom line the game futsal is played with a smaller- albeit heavier ball, with out walls, it's a simple cheap way to make the indoor game slower, less running, more re-starts, more breaks, few subs and certainly the need for MORE SKILL. All this without the need for walls high celings or excessive netting protection.
The definition of futsal provided by this article might, and I say might exsist in the JogaBonita & adidas +10 ads featuring world class stars. But Portlanders 30 years and up (those who actually play indoor soccer year round) would make this game look like an constant stoppage of play. Walls in the states keep the indoor game moving and fast paced, futsal in the states does neither, but it's a great way for an out of shape super skilled former soccer player to play a game that has little demands on the cardio. For the rest of the 99% that play indoor it would be like trying to learn chinese.
Few more tidbits, FIFA does sanction Futsal championships this is true but it's truly only played in competitive domestic leagues in South America(Brasil/Argentina).
Europeans, Africans,Middle east, Asians, Australians, Central and North Americans don't really adopt this game, or play it with that much frequency they might know about it. Futsal is a fringe way of playing the beautiful game.
Comparing Robinho to Ben Olsen? Call Charles Darwin for the answer, not the game of Futsal.
How about Magic Johnson v Dirk Nowitski? for sake of argument. Different cultures produce different types of players. Also the weight of the ball makes the photo of the man attempting a scissor/bicycle kick laughable-in the true game of futsal- this shot while colorful would be akin to hitting a 90 foot shoot in basketball. It doesn't happen.
Lomato does love Futsal-he also worked for an incredible spin machine at Wydien & Kennedy. Now he works as spin doctor at Willamete Week.
Good Luck to him.
Porland Born,
Do your home work before you express your opinions! These comments only proves you do not know what you are talking about when it comes to player skill development and Futsal! Visit FIFA and Futsal Online to see how Futsal is played all over the world! Even on roof tops in Japan!
When will the USA ever produce a soccer super star, such as, Rivelihno, Zico, Ronaldo, Ronaldihno, and Robihno? When USA soccer players grow up playing Futsal, that's when!
These players were discovered in Futsal Facilities not on green grass playing 11v11 and especially not play hockey\soccer with walls!
Facts vs Opinions, facts wins!
What country has 5 Stars on thier Jersey?
Brazil! A country that plays Futsal!
Peter Minenno
Dear Pete,
Please rebute any info I provided with empirical data (facts.)
Saying all the players from Brasil whose name begins with the letter "R" were 'discovered', 'developed' or made by the game of futsal. Is purely your individual opinion.
BTW, Micheal Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Isaiah Thomas, Clyde Drexler all eat fried chicken, these players have all won Multiple World Championships-therefore fried chicken is the only thing necessary to become the best in basketball. My development theory. Sound familar?
Someone saying they love to play futsal is not the same saying this unique way of playing hybrid 'footbal'/'soccer' was their only way to develop players and should be considered the 'only' 'proven' way to develop soccer players in the world. Yawn...pause...yadayadayada..
Like my club coach told me true players are born..
I've been to Japan, Italy, Germany, Greece, England, Scotland, Mexico, Australia, France, Spain, Turkey and a few spots in between. NONE of these countries were playing professional domestic leagues of 'futsal'. Sure they may send a group of 'futsal' minded players to the FIFA championships, but these countries DO NOT consider futasl as a 'game' that creates professional players.
If you have scientific fact to prove this theory. Present it or create a case study.
Brasilians have been near the top of the world since the dawn of the World Cup. Futsal balls were not even around to played with when the first 3 or 4 World Cup (Outdoor soccer) were played.
Futsal is a great game for skilled and technically astute players. Not intended for the 30 something American looking for once a week excerise playing the hybrid american indoor game with walls.
Futsal is a soccer purists true love, notably in economically depreseed areas of 3rd world barrios in the slums of Brasil and Argentina. It costs nothing outside of a heavier ball.
Here's an idea-Let's charge money to south americans relocated in the U.S. to play on a crap hard surface in the winter doldrums of Utah, for instance.
You're more of a capitalist then futsal evangelist.
What type of over head is needed to facilite an indoor futsal game? Low cost involved in sponsoring an inforal game of futsal great profits to reap if players pay to play.
Don't confuse player development with indoor futsal in Utah.
You're out to make a buck at the end of the day.
If you love Futsal and want to share this love-don't charge Americans what the rest of world can do for free-that is playing futsal.
Futsal has merits in developing technical skill so does playing with a grapefruit like Pele' claimed was a factor in his development.
Is that fruity enough logic for you?
Facts vs Peter 's Opinions, facts wins!
Now please enlighten us with facts.
Relax guys, it's just soccer afterall. I've played indoor soccer for decades, and I just played futsal for the first time at Portland Futsal. You're both partly right from my observations.
-The average-skilled player won't fare as well in futsal as in typical US indoor soccer. The walls and longer court of US indoor soccer make it easier to compete with modest skills, and futsal demands too much ball control and passing skills to be able to improve against better players. But if players of equal skill are competing, most anyone could enjoy it.
-The supposedly bothersome stoppage of play, due to having no walls, is vastly overstated. With minimal out of bounds area, the restarts occur almost immediately, and the game flows on.
-The argument about whether futsal breeds the best teams/players is irrelevant. Comparing European soccer to South American soccer is largely apples & oranges: they are significantly different, but both are effective, as evidenced by the last two WC winners. But it is compelling that a game like futsal with an even greater emphasis on great passing, dribbling and ball control, is most popular in the region of the world where international soccer is considered to be played the most beautifully.
-Who cares if a futsal league is operating for profit? So are all the other adult soccer leagues in the US. And the notion that futsal could be played for free is rather silly. While anyone can play anything for free somewhere, what people are paying for is a dedicated facility, scheduled game times, referees and all of the organizational benefits that a league provides.
-Portland Futsal's founder certainly didn't invent futsal in America, and of course he's promoting the new facility. All new businesses need promotion, right? Nevertheless, he's a true enthusiast of the game, and he's introducing the concept and making it an option to people like me who have played soccer many years and had never heard of futsal until recently. I enjoyed it and will keep playing.
Instead of bickering about who are the best players and why, or whether futsal is really all that popular or fun, let's just be happy that soccer lovers have a new interesting option in this town. We all win...
Ok, these comments are a little grandiose,
"I'd like to think I'm revolutionizing indoor soccer in America," Lomanto says. Organized Futsal has been around for 25 years in the USA.
"I'm offering a model that doesn't quite exist."
I own and operate a Futsal Facility for the last 4 years in SLC, UT. See my website:
www.score-goal.com
"I want this to be a soccer mecca for Portland."
Perhaps, Lomato meant that all his comments were only related to the Portalnd area, not the country as a whole. However, he made it seem like he is the "founding father of Futsal & the only owner of a Futsal Facility in the USA!
There are many of us out here do the same thing and for much longer then Lomato. However, great to see the sport is growing and that is is getting the much needed press space!
Thank you,
Peter Minenno
President
Score Goal - Utah Futsal
www.score-goal.com
www.utahfutsal.org
801-706-7363