8-0 victory over Sweden puts England LD Team into last four of European Championship
Sweden 0-8 England
Monday 11 June 2012
2012 INAS European Championship
Sweden
As the Senior Teams of England and Sweden were preparing for their opening games at UEFA Euro 2012 in Ukraine on Monday, the two nations' Learning Disability sides went head to head in their own European Championship in the Swedish town of Gavle.
And it was the England side who comfortably beat their hosts 8-0 in the second group game to secure qualification to the semi-finals with a game to spare.
England came out of the blocks quickly and we ahead inside the opening minutes after a fine finish by Lerone Plummer following early domination of the ball.
The goal settled the Three Lions but it also saw their opponents drop-off in an attempt to stem the early flow. Lerone Plummer added a second 13 minutes later but England were becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of space available to play around in the Swedish half.
Coaches Chris Dowhan and Chris Freestone stuck to their plan, though, and guided their players through the half and were rewarded with two more goals before the break from Sleiman Mbarouk and Connoll Farrell. It was Farrell's first England goal, on his debut, and made the score 4-0.
And the visitors came out looking for a quick start to the second half and continued to dominate possession and play. Mbarouk scored a fine individual effort ten minutes into the half to extend the lead and allow England to change around their personnel.
Farrell finished a neat flowing move for his second of the game midway through the half to cap a great bow to international football.
Two more goals came in the last ten minutes of the game with the Swedes looking tired through. Mbarouk claimed his hat-trick and with almost the last kick of the game Babak Khorrami wrapped things up.
Head Coach Chris Dowhan told TheFA.com: “The team have done well to qualify from the group for the semi-finals but we know that we can and need to do more as we move into the later stages of the tournament.
"We have a rest day tomorrow but it is important to also prepare ourselves for our last game against Poland to ensure we top the group now.”
The Three Lions face Poland in their final group game on Wednesday. We'll bring you up to date with the latest from England's involvement in the tournament.
England
K Ginever, J Walne (M Harrison), M Edwards, A Bilal (R Gallagher), G Simmons (B Khorrami), C McGinty, L Plummer, G Chukwuma, S Reid, C Farrell, S Mbarouk
Goals: L Plummer (3, 16), S Mbarouk (35, 55, 81), C Farrell (42, 71), B Khorrami (90)