Courtesy: The FA.com


Dell left frustrated

Monday, 05 June 2006.

Futsal Friendly Tournament
England, Cyprus, Belgium

English Institute of Sport, Sheffield
29 May - 01 June 2006

All details: click here


England Futsal Coach Graeme Dell was left frustrated by the performance of his team at the Inaugural Four Nations Futsal Tournament in Sheffield.

England gave their best performance to date in a dominant first half performance against Cyprus and followed this with one of their worst against a skilful Belarus team the following day.

If only we could have maintained the level of performance we displayed in the first half against Cyprus but the team performance against Belarus was very disappointing.

We really wanted to put things right against Belgium but as in a number of games we couldn’t make superior possession and the chances that came our way count. In Futsal if you don’t score then the opposition have a habit of punishing you and Belgium took their opportunities very well’.

The English Institute of Sport, Sheffield provided an impressive venue for the participating teams of England, Belarus, Cyprus and Belgium and drew favorable comparisons to some of Europe's most prestigious indoor venues. Over a 1,000 spectators attended the tournament and enjoyed a number of entertaining matches.

The opening night for instance saw a 5 - 5 draw between England and Cyprus, whilst the next day saw two players and three members of the Cypriot coaching staff sent off in a controversial 4-2 victory over Belgium.

The tournament was won deservedly by an excellent Belarus team who defeated a depleted Cyprus in the final round of matches 3-1. Indeed such was Belarus' dominance that number nine - Andre Scordorva also took the trophies for both Leading Goal Scorers and Best Player of the tournament.

England's tournament had begun brightly with an outstanding first half against Cyprus which saw them race into a 5 - 1 lead courtesy of a hatrick from Bath City’s Alex Sykes. However Cyprus came back strongly to draw 5 -5 in an exhilarating match. The mental and physical impact of giving away this lead was clearly evident in a disastrous performance against an excellent Belarus the following evening.

England had an opportunity to redeem themselves in the final match against a Belgian side that had lost both of their opening matches. Despite dominating possession, England struggled to create opportunities against experienced opponents and went down 1-3 with only a goal from Michael Lyons to show for their efforts.

England's one consolation was that the athletic Farai Jackson of England collected the award for Best Goal keeper of the tournament with a string of reaction saves against Cyprus and Belgium.

Belarus was also awarded the Damien Knabben Fair Play Trophy. This award was introduced by the FA to recognize the contribution of former national coach - Damien Knabben - to Futsal throughout the world. Mr Knabben passed away earlier this year at a tragically young age. The award was presented by Pierre Schiepers Vice Chairman of the Belgium FA.



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