Three Major League Soccer veterans were included in the U.S. national futsal team roster chosen for the May 18 and 20 CONCACAF qualifying series against Honduras.

Hermann Award winner Johnny Torres, Jamar Beasley and John Ball are among 17 players U.S. coach Keith Tozer selected for the matches at U.S. Cellular Arena in Milwaukee.

Sixteen of Tozer's players are stars in the Major Indoor Soccer League, including four players — goalkeeper Scott Hileman, defender Danny Kelly, and midfielders Giuliano Celenza and Lee Tschantret — from the Baltimore Blast, which last weekend captured its second successive MISL championship.

Hileman was the MISL Championship MVP, and Celenza was voted top player in last season's league all-star game.

Tozer, coach at MISL runner-up Milwaukee Wave, included five of his players, including Torres and MISL scoring champion Greg Howes.

Only Brazilian-born forward Dewayne Gilpatrick is not affiliated with the professional indoor league.

Winner of the two-game, aggregate-goals series will advance to this summer's eight-nation CONCACAF Futsal Championship in Costa Rica, which will determine the region's two qualifiers for the FIFA Futsal World Championship Nov. 22-Dec. 12 in Chinese Taipei.

Canada meets Panama and Mexico takes on El Salvador in other qualifying series, with the winners joining Costa Rica, Cuba, Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad & Tobago at the CONCACAF tournament.

The United States qualified for the first three Futsal World Championships, in 1989, 1992 and 1996, but failed to reach the 2000 tournament. The Americans finished third in 1989 and second in 1992.

Injuries will deprive the U.S. squad of Steve Butcher, Pat Morris, Kevin Sloan and Jeff Davis, but Tozer has included six uncapped players, including Beasley, on his roster.

Torres played five MLS seasons, with New England, Miami and Chicago, seeing action in 97 games (playoffs included) and scoring eight goals with 16 assists.

Beasley, who plays for the Kansas City Comets, spent four seasons in MLS, with New England and Chicago, playing in 66 games and scoring eight goals. The former U.S. under-20 national-teamer's younger brother, DaMarcus, is a star winger on the U.S. national soccer team.

Ball, a midfielder with the Cleveland Force, played 11 games with the Chicago Fire in 1999, scoring a playoff goal.

Futsal, a cousin of North American indoor soccer, features five-player teams on a basketball-like court with no walls and a low-bouncing ball. Indoor soccer features six-player teams and side- and backwalls on a hockey rink-sized field.

U.S. ROSTER

Goalkeepers
Scott Hileman (Baltimore Blast), 1 cap/0 goals
Brett Phillips (St. Louis Steamers), 10/0
Nick Vorberg (Milwaukee Wave), 1/0

Defenders Lovelace Ackah (Milwaukee Wave), 0/0
Danny Kelly (Baltimore Blast), 0/0
Brian Soell (Kansas City Comets), 0/0
Pat White (Milwaukee Wave), 6/4

Midfielders
John Ball (Cleveland Force), 6/0
Jamar Beasley (Kansas City Comets), 0/0
Giuliano Celenza (Baltimore Blast), 0/0
Joel Shanker (Philadelphia Kixx), 2/2
Lee Tschantret (Baltimore Blast), 12/6

Forwards
Don D'Ambra (Philadelphia Kixx), 2/4
Lee Edgerton (Cleveland Force), 0/0
Dewayne Gilpatrick (unattached), 5/1
Greg Howes (Milwaukee Wave), 2/0
Johnny Torres (Milwaukee Wave), 3/1

Head coach: Keith Tozer

U.S. QUALIFYING SCHEDULE
(For CONCACAF Futsal Championship

May 18: vs. Honduras at U.S. Cellular Arena (Milwaukee)
May 20: vs. Honduras at U.S. Cellular Arena (Milwaukee)