More Than One Goal to This Soccer Match

A former football player has recruited a group of Brazilian ringers. The Tigers and the Pumas plan to battle for supremacy of the 14-16 age group. And the Medina brothers hope to translate their successes indoors and at the park to a new format.

All will compete in close quarters this weekend at the second National Futbolito Pepito Ball four-on-four soccer tournament at Hansen Dam Park in Sunland.

The tournament features a diminutive variation of soccer played on fields approximately one third the size of a conventional field and with five small goals at each end.

A team wins when it has scored in and “eliminated” all its opponent’s goals or by having scored the most goals at the end of the 20-minute, nonstop match. There are no goalkeepers and ties are settled by shootouts.

Eighteen fields will be in use Saturday and Sunday at Hansen Dam during the tournament, which is billed as a celebration of the Latino family.

There will be five age groups and players can participate in three skills competitions. Music, food and prizes are also part of the scene.

Futbolito Pepito drew more than 30,000 spectators and 2,800 players in its inaugural, six-city tour last year. Midway through this year’s tour of 10 U.S. cities with the largest Latino populations, organizers estimate more than 3,000 players have participated in seven tournaments.

Hilda Henao, Pepito Ball’s project director, said there are plans to stage a national championship at the end of the 1998 tour. Such a competition would bring together tournament winners in each age division.

Henao said more than 100 five-person teams were registered for the Hansen Dam event by Thursday and that Futbolito Pepito’s popularity has skyrocketed.

“It’s been well accepted by elite players, beginners, little kids,” Henao said. “People seem to like that the games are only 20 minutes and there’s lot of scoring.”

One of the converts is Jorge Medina, a San Fernando High soccer player who has organized the Tigers, a Futbolito Pepito team of 14- to 16-year-old classmates.

“It’s harder, but it helps you out with your skills,” Medina said.

The participants, while overwhelmingly Latino, come from different walks of life. Take Los Lobos, organized by 35-year-old Michael Mitchell, a West Hills resident and owner of an aerial photography company.

A former Reseda High quarterback, Mitchell has become friends with a group of Brazilian recreational soccer players through his business dealings.

After testing the sport’s waters in weekly pickup games with his pals, Mitchell lined them up for a Futbolito Pepito team and is anticipating a strong showing even though they’ve never played an official match.

“I’ve got a good team; I’ll probably be the [substitute],” Mitchell said. “But I think this game is a lot more suited to me, because I’ve got that aggressive football mentality. Soccer is kind of boring but this should have a lot of scoring.”

Eduardo Tovar, 15, has assembled a team of Poly High students called the Pumas who will compete in the 14-16 age group, the tournament’s most popular bracket. Tovar played in last year’s tournament at Hansen Dam and learned passing and defense, not individual runs with the ball, win games.

“In regular soccer, you can take on three or four guys when you have the ball; you have a lot of people to cover for you,” Tovar said. “But [in Futbolito Pepito], if somebody takes the ball away, they can shoot and score right away.”

Medina predicts his Tigers will win their age group and said he’s warned his teammates there’s no room for grandstanding.

“You really can’t ballhog because you score by passing,” Medina said. “Plus, you tire the other team out more that way.”

Antonio Medina, a 33-year-old cabinet maker from North Hills, hopes he, his two brothers, a nephew and a friend will have an advantage in the 21-and-older division.

“We play in the park with little goals made out of PVC pipe and we play in an over-30 indoor league,” Medina said. “We’ve been playing this kind of game for a long time.”