Triesman's optimism for year ahead
Wednesday, 12 August, 2009
Lord Triesman says success for England can inspire the entire country.
FA Chairman Lord Triesman has spoken of his optimism for the season ahead, and believes that success for England teams can inspire the entire game in this country.
Fabio Capello's England take on Holland in Amsterdam this evening, and Lord Triesman believes that great credit has to go to him for the progress he has made in 18 months in charge.
"The prospects of qualification are good, no one is counting any chickens but you must say that the prospects are good," Triesman commented.
"The reasons for that are the cohesive unit that Fabio has created. He is a very inspiring leader.
"He is obviously a very, very fine football tactician but it is his leadership qualities and his unwillingness to ever contemplate losing that I think set him apart."
And if there can be sustaine success at senior and youth level, Triesman feels that can serve as an inspiration to every community throughout England.
Triesman said: "I think when England teams win it can provide a huge encouragement to the entire domestic game in this country.
"I'm very optimistic about the upcoming season. My wish is that our England teams can continue their success and I hope that will happen.
"England Women's U19s won their European Championship last month, Stuart Pearce's Under-21s reached the final as did the men's U19s team. The senior team are very close to qualification for the World Cup.
"The reason I prioritised England teams winning is because I know what an inspiration it can provide to the rest of football in our country."
Triesman also feels that the sheer passion throughout the country, combined with the tradition of taking our football knowledge to deprived countries around the globe, give England every chance of winning the right to host the World Cup.
"I go to a number of amateur games and youth football matches and the thing that gets me every time I go, is the passion," Triesman said. "No matter which town, which village you go to the passion is just unbelievable. I've never seen it anywhere else.
"It's the most infectious thing. We've got several things that speak well of our country and they should give us a very good chance of hosting the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022.
"One of those things is the passion - it's everywhere. And it is boys and girls and people from every community, it's universal in our country.
"The second thing is that we have a very long tradition of reaching out to parts of the world that don't have our advantages, and do everything we can to ensure we pass on our coaching and refereeing knowledge and get kit and equipment to the kids who need it.
"I think those two attributes combined will hopefully make people look at us and see what good members of the football family we are."
Following Wednesday's friendly England face Slovenia at Wembley on Saturday 5 September before their next World Cup qualifier with Croatia four days later. Buy tickets for both games
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