CHICAGO - San José State midfielder Eduardo "Lalo" Buenfil has earned a call-up to the U.S. Men's National Futsal Team for the club's trip to the Futsal Week Winter Cup. The team will travel to Porec, Croatia from Feb. 25-March 8 and play a pair of friendlies against Slovenia before competing in the tournament.
The games will help head coach Dusan Jakica and his staff determine the members of the squad that will attempt to qualify for the USA's first Futsal World Cup appearance since 2008. There are 19 players making the international trip and Buenfil is just one of the squad's three players at the fixo position.
"This is a great honor for Lalo to be selected for the national team," says Spartan head coach Simon Tobin. "It's a reward for his hard work and dedication to improving as a player every day. His skill set particularly lends itself to the game of futsal and he is a fantastic representative for San José State soccer."
Buenfil is entering his senior season at SJSU in 2020. The San José product shined at both James Lick High School and with the Pac Soccer Academy before choosing his hometown program to play collegiately. He has scored five goals and notched a pair of assists while controlling the center of the pitch with precision in his time at San José State.
The midfielder has shined both on the field and in the classroom, recently earning Academic All-WAC honors last month.
After its trip to Croatia, the U.S. will kickoff the Concacaf (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) Futsal Championship against El Salvador on May 4. Four of the federation's top teams in that tournament will then advance to the 2020 Futsal World Cup, held in Lithuania this September.
"The international games in Croatia are going to be critical for us in preparing our final roster for World Cup qualifying," Jakica said in a statement on Thursday. "In the past six months we've had three domestic camps and seven identification training events, and we've looked at more than 500 players. We are excited about the dedicated group of players we have selected for this important test."
U.S. Futsal MNT Roster - 2020 Futsal Week Winter Cup
GOALKEEPERS (3): Eduardo Macias (Dallas, Texas), Diego Moretti (Ancona, Italy), Estevan Vasquez (Fortworth, Texas)
ALAS (9): Alan Acevedo (Hicksville, N.Y.), Diego Bobadilla-Mireles (Holland, Mich.), Nik Djokic (Brighton, Mich.), Jonathan Navarro (San Francisco, Calif.), Billy O'Dwyer (Dallas, Texas), Jonathon Orlando (Cheverly, Md.), Tomas Pondeca (Dallas, Texas), Ryan Russell (Waldorf, Md.), Joey Tavernese Jr. (Garden City, N.Y.)
FIXOS (3): Eduardo Buenfil (San Jose, Calif.), Julian Escobar (Hicksville, N.Y.), Lee Mitchell (Martinez, Calif.)
PIVOS (4): Raphael Araujo (Bound Brook, N.J.), Daniel Mattos (Chicago, Ill.), Luis Pinto (Kansas City, Kan.), Gabe Silveira (San Francisco, Calif.)