Canadian futsal team upsets Americans, join CONCACAF championship field

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This article was published 6/5/2016 (926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Robert Renaud scored a hat trick as Canada upset the U.S. 5-3 Thursday night to book its place in the CONCACAF Futsal Championship.

The Canadian men won the two-game aggregate series 9-7.

Canada, led by coach Kyt Selaidopoulos, advances to the main field of the CONCACAF championship which starts Sunday. The Canadians join Costa Rica, Curacao and Cuba in Group B of the CONCACAF championship.

The CONCACAF tournament 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.

The U.S. had qualified for five of the seven previous Futsal World Cups, finishing third in 1989 and runner-up in 1992. Canada has not qualified for the Futsal World Cup since the inaugural event in 1989 in the Netherlands, where it failed to advance from the first round after beating Japan and losing to Argentina and Belgium.

The Americans had travelled to Argentina, Croatia, and England in preparation for their playoff series against Canada. Selaidopoulos, appointed coach in February, had a more modest advance program.

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.