Courtesy: The FA.com

Lions tamed in Deva

Friday, 19 January 2007

England 2-9 Romania
UEFA Futsal Championship Preliminary Round, Group B
Thursday 18 January 2007
Deva, Romania

England's first UEFA Futsal Championship Qualifier ended in defeat to the hosts in the Municipal Stadium in Deva. Although the result is disappointing, it was not unexpected against professional Futsal players who are the group favourites to progress to the Finals in Porto later this year.

In front of a capacity crowd of passionate home support Romania dominated possession, with England defending deep and attempting to counter attack when possible. However Romania's skilful play and incisive movement provided them with a regular supply of chances.

England did however create opportunities of their own and Salisbury City's Alex Haddow scored his fifth international goal in seven appearances. It was not to deter the hosts who continued to pepper the England goal and scored at regular intervals. Keeper Graham Smith pulled off a series of excellent saves but could do little with the five first-half strikes that beat him.

England began the second half brightly with Bognor's Darren Budd scoring from a cross-shot. Romania were then kept at bay for a further eleven minutes before a series of defensive lapses extended the scoreline to 9-2.

England will need to recover quickly from this setback as they play Latvia on Friday evening. In the other group game on Thursday Latvia defeated Bulgaria 2-0.



Courtesy: The FA.com

Latvia too strong

Friday, 19 January 2007

England 1-5 Latvia
UEFA Futsal Championship Preliminary Round, Group B
Friday 19 January 2007
Deva, Romania

England's hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Futsal Championship came to a disappointing end on Friday with against an experienced Latvian side.

Having lost their first game on Thursday to the fancied hosts Romania, a chance of a runner-up berth in the next stage of qualifying was still on the table.

However, still without a win under their belt, two victories would have been a big ask for Graeme Dell's and despite Gloucester Town's Alex Sykes scoring his second goal of the week, it wasn't enough to prevent a 5-1 defeat.




Courtesy: The FA.com

Bulgaria see off Lions

Monday, 22 January 2007

England 4-9 Bulgaria
UEFA Futsal Championship Preliminary Round, Group B
Sunday 21 January 2007
Deva, Romania

With England knowing they could not qualifying from Group B, third place was still up for grabs as they faced Bulgaria on Sunday morning.

Graeme Dell's men got off to a bad start conceding two early goals and were unable to take advantage of a string of chances to haul themselves back into contention.

England's defensive frailties have been a major problem in this campaign and whilst able to sustain periods of pressure their vulnerability to counter-attacks proved their undoing.

Nearing half time, England trailed 4-2 with goals from James Elford and Ben Watson having found the net, but then suffered another setback with Michael Skuballa being sent off when he was adjudged to have handled on the goal line. Bulgaria scored from the resulting penalty.

In the second half England did well to haul themselves back into the game with a second strike from Hasting Town's Elford and another from Leamington's James Husband to make it 6-4.

However, Bulgaria punished England's vulnerability at the back and scored three times before the end to win the game comfortably.

Dermot Collins, The FA National Manager for Small Sided Football said: "We have certainly made progress over the last three years but not to the extent that was required to qualify this week.

"As national Futsal Leagues are established across Europe the standard of the game is improving all the time and initiating regional or national leagues in England is something that The FA will be examining this year.

He added: "Players need the time to train and play Futsal more than they are at the moment and competitive league structures combined with the grassroots development of the game could provide this."



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