Courtesy: The FA.com


KL kick-off

By Graeme Dell

Tuesday, 29 January 2008

Hi, from a very warm and humid Kuala Lumpur where we arrived yesterday after a lengthy journey. Now we’re here and have settled in to the hotel quickly we’re all raring to go, so tonight can’t come quickly enough as the excitement mounts.

Travel days are always the most stressful of any trip and Saturday evening’s departure from Heathrow proved to be no different. Checking-in a group of this size, what with the preparation that our administration team put in beforehand, should be so simple but for some reason the airlines seemed to make our journey through check-in much less than simple. Terminal 3 at Heathrow isn’t the most hospitable of places to start an excursion of this length or magnitude but nonetheless, as I have come to expect, the players were relaxed about it and didn’t let it distinguish their excitement at getting to KL.

Many of the lads played for their club teams on Saturday and as has become customary when we’re leaving to go anywhere at a weekend, I get a bit jumpy when my phone rings as I always anticipate the inevitable injury and cry-off.

This time however I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t ring once so the only issue we have is Luke Ballinger’s ankle which will require some attention over the first few days, but I expect him to be available later in the week.

Our physio Mark Leather, who is very experienced and well respected in the game, wasted no time when we got here getting his hands to work and I am sure that with his experience and expertise, Luke will be ready by Thursday.

Courtesy of the sponsors, we're accommodated in an opulent five star residence in the centre of KL where our rooms overlook the spectacular twin towers, a standard of hotel any England team would be delighted with at any event, not least of all a World Cup.

For us, it’s pure luxury as my usual approach of ‘live down to play up’ means these lads rarely experience this standard of hotel. I have always had the view that you need to earn the right to stay in prestigious five star hotels and as yet we have some way to go. We also have better and more productive things we can spend the money on to develop Futsal, so we are grateful to the sponsors for this experience. Eventually, we shall earn the right to stay in these hotels all the time but we appreciate the luxury when we get it and the lads all share a quite humble approach but grateful nonetheless.

This is a low maintenance player group who are a pleasure to work alongside and we all share some great mutual respect. I think all of them have, at some stage since we set off, personally thanked me for the opportunity they have been given, an unexpected but grateful attitude and not always seen in football.

Yesterday was our first full day here and the players were generally under the guidance of Dawn Scott, our sports scientist, on loan from the senior women’s squad but she has a great passion and dedication to her job which gives the boys the tools they need to perform better, whilst developing individually. They work well with her, sharing that mutual respect, and with five games in as many days they will need every bit of support in that area.

Our first day was completed by a visit to the main Negara Arena where we had a light training session, watched by former Liverpool legend Steve McMahon who is here as part of the commentary team for the broadcasters.

He also took time out to come and chat with me, showing a general interest in the group which was nice to hear. As one might imagine, with such a massive TV audience of over 310 million viewers each day, media interest is strong. That’s all part of the promotional aspect of Futsal to a wider audience around the globe by the broadcasters.

The usual Argentina versus England question surfaced in yesterday’s pre-match press conference but there remains great respect between the teams and especially the coaches, so for us it was a case of honestly bringing it back to being just another game, although one of huge disparity in playing standards and abilities.

I have set out to the group, now that we are settled in and they can focus, what my expectations are for the week and how I expect every game to present different challenges such as how we should look to have a building block approach to each game, learning from the previous game and adding to it.

There are many facets to what I want out of the week and they all point towards Budapest in a month’s time and our World Cup Qualifiers. Results would be nice but that’s never been the overriding factor to me as we learn more about Futsal and I’m not hung up on winning but we have to keep showing developmental improvement and that’s key to this week.

It will also be good to catch up with a couple of our FA colleagues who are here presenting at the Asian Football Confederation Technical Conference, so along with them and the number of British International Schools out here, we expect some huge support tonight.

There is also a great deal of respect for England from the other nations, knowing that since we were here in 2003 that we have taken our time to look at how best to develop Futsal in England and I am sure, in the hope that given time, we will have a great deal to contribute to the further development of the game.

On a personal front, I tore a calf muscle a couple of weeks back which is causing me some pain and which limits my movement so it’s frustrating that I can’t be as active coaching as I want to be this week. That’s not a major issue though, as our down time is safely structured to ensure adequate rest for the lads whilst also allowing us to cover any technical elements we need to as they present themselves.

Our last F30 session at Lilleshall a week ago was productive and we had some interesting meetings with the goalkeeper coaching staff from Liverpool, who had come to view what we were up to. They were impressed with the game and I’m delighted that Tony Elliot will therefore be joining our staff group as a goalkeeping coach in the short term. I also remember Tony, a former England Youth international and Birmingham City player when he was one of the first intake of goalkeepers who attended The FA’s National School at Lilleshall. He spent two years under the expert guidance of Dave Sexton and Mike Kelly, so he was no stranger to the Lilleshall environment. He knows as well as anyone how much dedication is needed to succeed and we will welcome him to our staff team for the trip to Budapest and I look forward to working with him.

Finally, I have spent the past fortnight with a smile on my face reflecting on some good productive ‘work in progress’ and I want that to continue. It’s very rewarding that with the effort, unending belief and passion put in, that eventually you feel like you’re getting something back, something you hoped was there and now it’s surfaced. That cements your confidence that the rewards are there to stay, establishing the foundations for the future, which now appear to be taking the shape I have wanted.

Lets hope we can have some more to cheer this week and follow on from our successes against Greece.

Have a good fortnight!

Graeme.





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