QCOSTARICA – Frederico Moojen scored twice, but it wasn’t enough as Canada fell 3-2 against Costa Rica on Sunday to open the group stage at the 2016 CONCACAF Futsal Championship being held this week in San Jose.
Erick Brenes had a pair of goals and Alejandro Paniagua scored the other for defending champions (Costa Rica), which was the only country to open Group B with a victory after Curacao and Cuba played to a 1-1 draw.
The CONCACAF tournament, which has eight countries in action, will send four teams from North and Central America and the Caribbean to the 24-country FIFA Futsal World Cup this September in Colombia.
Futsal is a five-a-side indoor game, played in 20-minute halves on a surface no larger than 25 by 42 metres (and no smaller than 20 by 38) for international matches. Goals measure three by two metres.
Already qualified for the Futsal World Cup are host Colombia, Argentina, Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Egypt, Iran, Italy, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Mozambique, Paraguay, Portugal, Russia, Solomon Islands, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Brazil has dominated the world scene, winning five of the seven Futsal World Cups including the last two. Spain won the other two titles and has finished runner-up to Brazil three times.
The tournament will be held in San José between 8–14 May 2016. A total of eight teams Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica (hosts), Guatemala, Panama, Cuba, Curacao and Honduras will play in the tournament.
Click here for the schedule and results.
