Lions lick their wounds

Faced against the experience of the established nations of Futsal Portugal, Hungary and Belgium, England was provided with a comprehensive lesson as to how the game should be played.

Portugal in particular caught the eye. Orlando Duarte’s side will travel to FIFA’s World Cup in Taiwan later this month as one of the favourites for the title.

The Portuguese team combine individual skill, brilliant movement and exceptional levels of fitness that will trouble the world giants of Spain and Brazil. The Portuguese captain - Andre also looks set to become a world star.

Playing in the style of Brazil’s Juniniho, Andre tormented opposition defences and England in particular could o little to counter his influence.

The Portuguese Team are drawn from professional Futsal teams in Spain and Portugal and this means that their players have developed a speed and fluency in their play that requires the ball and all members of the team to be in a state of constant movement.

England’s targets for development will need to be more modest in the interim and both Belgium and Hungary provide a more realistic level of aspiration.

Hungary have qualified for the UEFA Championships in February 2005 yet draw their players from 700 Futsal players many of which also play a good level of 11 a side football.

Belgium have a National Futsal League but are in a process of rebuilding the International team after narrowly failing to qualify for both the World and European Championships.

For England to improve internationally the squad needs to gradually integrate better technical players and ensure that these players play Futsal at a local level.

Futsal as a game requires additional skills and techniques than those developed in 11-a-side football and these can only evolve through regular competitive exposure.

The launch of twenty county Futsal leagues in the New Year should assist this process. Specific Futsal Coaching also needs to be provided and the launch of a level One Module in 2005 will provide a introduction to the game.

England complete their international programme in 2004 with games against Thailand and Egypt in Bangkok (10 -15 November) and then in a three team tournament in Manchester (11-14 December) against Romania and Moldova.

Results - Algarve International Tournament