Courtesy: The Fa.com

'We'll get there'

Wednesday, 31 October 2007

England v Andorra
Friendlies
Monday 29 October 2007 & Tuesday 30 October 2007
English Institute Of Sport, Bath.

England’s Futsal coach Graeme Dell believes his squad are getting nearer and nearer to the level required, after seeing his players put in an improved performance against Andorra on Tuesday night.

The Three Lions played two games against Andorra at the English Institute Of Sport in Bath and whilst both games resulted in defeats, Dell saw enough of an improvement from his team in the two games to give him hope for the future.

Monday’s match finished 4-2 in favour of the visitors, with Tuesday’s game ending in a 6-3 reverse but despite the difference in scoreline, Dell was more impressed with his team’s showing on Tuesday.

“It was a fantastic game of Futsal to be fair, really good to watch,” revealed Dell.

“The 6-3 scoreline didn’t really reflect the match and anyone watching the game wouldn’t have known the difference in rankings between the two teams.

“We got ourselves into a good position in the game and could have gone on from there, but we didn’t take our chances and that was probably the difference between the teams in the end.”

With a number of players in the squad relatively new to Futsal for these games, Dell was pleased with some of the performances over the two games with the likes of Alex Sykes, Sam Tucknott and Luke Ballinger all staking a claim.

“We had a more experienced team than what we had for the trip to Turkey recently, but we still had a few new lads in there who did themselves no harm at all and I was pleased with that,” added Dell.

“It’s about continuity and it’s all a learning curve for us still, but we’ll keep on improving and we'll get there.”

The team now have a trip to Georgia in November and then a game with Greece in Birmingham in December, before the all important World Cup qualifiers take place in Hungary next February.

“It will be a tough game for us in Georgia and it will probably have to be a different squad again for us,” admitted Dell.

“Because of work and team commitments, a few players may not be able to go and we perhaps miss out because of the continuity issues that brings.

“We’ll continue to learn and gain more experience from it all though.”



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