Courtesy: Futsal England

Harsh lessons in Palma, as GBR submit to Portugal 20 - 0

The youngsters of Portugal under the direction of Orlando Duarte, the famous Portuguese Futsal coach gave Graeme Dell's University selection a harsh lesson in Futsal.

Twenty goals without reposte leaves Team GBR with the unenviable record of 53 goals against and not a single goal scored. To label this specially selected squad would be harsh, however, it is evident to all watching that whilst Great Britain maybe a developing Futsal nation, our stauts as a Great University nation with a tradition of sporting excellence has been dealt a humiliating blow.

To loose three games on the trot may simply be sport, however, to be
humiliated in such a fashion is indeed an unnecessary lesson along the
learning curve.

For the initial four to five minutes GBR seemed to grow in stature and fought hard to keep a clean sheet, however, once again greater technic and clever tactical awareness from the bench soon prized open the gaps in minute 15.30.

By half time the score was 8 - 0 and the Portuguese vociforated their delight.
Unselfish possesion and a beautiful collection of set pieces soon opened the floodgates. The British goal mouth was then bombared as everything seemed to be heading net bound.

It is truly delightful to watch this game played with such enviable skill, which the Portuguese have in abundance.

Let us hope that our further games against other developing nations such as Switzerland and France allow the GBR team to express themselves with some good results, and delivers the National Futsal Coach with his first victory in competitive International Futsal.