By Bob Molinaro

To play soccer on the beach, it helps to be part sand crab and part juggler. Judging from the makeup of the U.S. National Beach Soccer Team, it also doesn't hurt to have more than a few drops of South American blood. That figures. The sport was exported from Brazil to Europe and, more recently, the United States, but the flavor of the game remains strictly salsa.

When the USA beat Canada 4-1 Saturday in an exhibition at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, two of the American goals were scored by Adrian De Borba. Though he was born in Fairbanks, Alaska, De Borba is the son of Brazilian parents. Another key U.S. player, Francis Farberoff, is a native of Rio de Janeiro. His father is Brazilian. Like De Borba, he has lived several years in Miami.

As has Roberto Ceciliano, coach of the U.S. squad. He was born in Brazil to Italian parents. "I grew up on the Rio beach:, said Ceciliano, who played for Brazil's first national sand team in 1993. "To play this game, you have to be quick. You have to use alot of your imagination."

The top soccer players use their heads a lot - to trap and pass and shoot the ball. And bicycle kicks are quite common. "You need a lot of quick touches, because the ball gets stuck in the sand," said De Borba.

The five-a-side U.S. - Canada game was played on a field about 30 yards wide by 40 yards long, with smaller goals than are used for field soccer. At the pro level, the games are divided into three 12-minute periods. Even with frequent substitutions, it's long enough. All that churning in the sand takes its toll on the legs.

Fortunately for a sport trying to find its niche, far less endurance is required to watch beach soccer. The game is streamlined. No wasted time or motion. No U2 concerts at halftime. Just flat-out kicking up sand, with Brazilian-style music playing over the PA system.

The eight annual North American Sand Soccer Championships attracted 4800 players of various ages, shapes, skill levels and sun screen requirements. It is a beach head for promotion of sand soccer. This year's international exhibition, along with Sunday's Pro Beach Soccer Tour Finals, suggests that sand soccer wants to be taken more seriously.

Who knew that a pro tour has been around in the U.S. since 1994.? Or that the U.S. National Team trains in Fort Lauderdale? Or that the American sand blasters will travel to Portugal in July to compete in the mini-World Cup - a mundialito?

Sands soccer craves exposure. With that in mind, its next horizon is the 2008 Summer Olympics. Beach Soccer is played in less than 20 countries. But when ballroom dancing is an Olympic sport - and now even bridge has become a candidate - can you blame sand soccer for trying to kick down the door?

Said Ceciliano, the U.S. national coach: "I put my life into looking for good kids to put them in the sand and teach them how to be good beach soccer players."

And all this time, some of us thought that the main purpose of sand soccer was to get a good tan.