Courtesy: FAI.ie


Irish Futsal team to face France

Thursday, 08 October 2009

While the Republic of Ireland squad prepares for the biggest match in Dublin for years against World Champions, Italy, The Republic of Ireland senior international futsal team are also preparing for a return to action this month with two prestigious friendly games against France in Toulouse on October 21 and 22.

After performing well in the preliminary round of the UEFA Futsal Championships at the first attempt in February, this is an important development step for the Irish side. The highlight of this year was the 2-0 victory over England at the National Basketball Arena and a chance to take on Les Bleus will provide Ireland with another chance to make an impression on the international stage.

"France are outside the top ten futsal nations in the world but the game continues to grow there" explained Irish Manager Derek O'Neill, whose side meet the French on October 21 and 22.

"Last year Zinedine Zidane, Laurent Blanc and Didier Deschamps all starred for a France 98 team in a major televised futsal event in Paris to help promote the game.

"Far more people in France have had the chance to sample futsal than have in Ireland but we're trying to help spread the word about this fantastic version of the sport.

"These will be our first internationals since February and we've played just eight senior games in our short history in Futsal so challenges like this are a real test.

"With the introduction of the Emerald Futsal League Final this year, a lot more of our players have had the chance to play futsal more regularly and that is vital if we are to progress on the international stage.

"Ultimately every child who kicks a ball in Ireland should get the chance to play futsal and learn and develop their skills from playing in confined spaces. While the primary goal of the Futsal programme is to help develop technically better football players for the future, the bigger picture of high level adults Futsal offers other great opportunities to players who perhaps have missed out on the opportunity of playing high level football.


Republic of Ireland squad

John Perkins
John Somers
Lloyd Massey
Ian Byrne
Mark Langtry
Jack Doyle
Philip McDonagh
Ross Zambra
Craig Duggan
Tony Kane
Cian McDonald
Alan Lynch






Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com