Courtesy: The FA


Dell encouraged

Wednesday, 24 May 2006

FUTSAL Friendly Tournament

England, Cyprus, Belgium

English Institute of Sport, Sheffield

29 May - 01 June 2006

Ahead of the FUTSAL Tournament at Sheffield's Institute of Sport, we bring you the words from Graeme Dell as he looks forward to an important event for his team.

He said: "All three of our visitors will display squads over the next few days comprising some very experienced Futsal players and demonstrates how far we have yet to go in England before we can call upon such experience on a Futsal court.

"For many of you watching these matches over the coming days it will be an insight into one of the worlds fastest growing games.

"At The FA we are convinced that Futsal can play a major part in the development of young players for the future, not just for Futsal but also for football. Pace, fitness, tactical awareness and inventiveness are just a few of the key elements of the game and by having more contact with the ball players have a greater opportunity to develop their skill base.

"So for those of you who play conventional 5-a-side, Futsal may well challenge you that bit more whilst also developing your technical skills much quicker, irrespective of your age !

"Our last outing earlier this year saw us lose both matches to a very strong Finland team despite England having large periods of possession. Futsal is about keeping the ball and taking opportunities when they arise whilst defending resolutely and we weren’t as good at either of those facets as we have been in previous games so we will be looking to redress this over the coming days.

"The players are determined to learn as quickly as possible and only by challenging ourselves against the better nations can we continue our education which is as important as winning at this early stage.

"The FA recently hosted a FIFA coach-education seminar led by Orlando Duarte the highly respected Head Coach of Portugal and it was pleasing to see that the technical work we have so far done under our own steam is very much on the right track. Now the challenge is to get generations of players growing up with the game from an early age for a longer-term benefit."


The Squad:

Name - DOB - Caps - (Club)

Anthony Allman - 14.12.80 - 6 - (Margate FC)
John Atkinson - 28.10.82 - 4 - (Doncaster Deaf College)
Erkan Okay - 29.01.85 - 0 - (Histon FC)
Mark Canham - 11.09.82 - 18 - (Team Bath FC)
Jon Adams - 08.01.85 - 0 - (Leamington FC)
Steve Harrison - 29.05.85 - 12 - (unattached)
Matt Hann - 06.09.80 - 6 - (St Albans City)
James Elford - 12.06.80 - 14 - (Hastings United FC)
Michael Skuballa - 31.10.82 - 14 - (Barwell FC)
Michael Lyons - 24.07.81 - 4 - (Gresley Rovers FC)
Graham Smith - 14.08.83 - 10 - (unattached)
Alex Lobban - 01.10.85 - 0 - (unattached)
Farai Jackson - 19.07.82 - 10 - (Colwyn Bay FC)
Alex Sykes - 02.04.74 - 13 - (Bath City)

Head coach: Graeme Dell



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