Lynch wants top six finish
- Tuesday,
By Matt Phillips
Their London 2012 medal hopes might be over but the Paralympics is still very much alive for Lyndon Lynch and his Cerebral Palsy football team.
Defeats to both Brazil and Ukraine in the seven-a-side competition means that Paralympics GB can't qualify for the Semi-Finals but there's still a big game against USA on Wednesday afternoon and then the classification Play-Off games with Lynch aiming for a fifth place tournament finish.
"We probably gave the ball away too cheaply against Ukraine and you just can't do that against the reigning Paralympic champions," reflected the Head Coach after the 7-1 defeat to the Gold medal winners from Beijing 2008.
"Ukraine are a team that's been together for the last decade so it's difficult to compete against that level of full-time commitment.
"Their pass completion rate was higher than us and they retained and moved the ball better over the 60 minutes but the tournament isn't over for us.
"Our objective for the Paralympics was to finish in the top six and that's still in our own hands," said the Leytonstone school teacher.
Despite the defeat, Lynch was pleased with his side's attitude in front of yet another big Riverbank Arena crowd: "The players didn't stop trying and showed a real indomitable spirit.
"We've got that reputation throughout the seven-a-side game so that's something we'll be taking into the USA game on Wednesday.
"The flip side to that is we must keep working on our techniical ability and be stronger in keeping possession ourselves."
Lynch's team have beaten the Americans three times this year including a win at the Paralympic World Cup in Manchester: "We've had some good results against the USA but you can't take anything for granted.
"They've got dangerous players in Marthell Vazquez and Josh McKinney but we'll set up in the correct manner and hopefully come away with that win in our last group game."
Paralympics GB v USA takes place at the Riverbanks Arena at 4.15pm on Wednesday 5 September.
