Futsal fever hits Newcastle as England prepare for action

Wednesday 04 Jun 2014
The England Futsal team hosts a Four Nations tournament in Newcastle
Whilst the country is gearing up to support Roy Hodgson’s men in Brazil, a little bit of the samba spirit hits Newcastle this week, as Futsal takes over the north-east.

The England Futsal team hosts a Four Nations tournament that includes USA, Cyprus and Qatar at the Northumbria University from Thursday 5 June to Sunday 8 June.

Each nation will play each other over the coming days to determine the winner of the tournament, and England will fancy their chances of claiming victory, particularly with the matches taking place on home-soil with the full-support of a passionate north-east crowd.

Match schedule

Thursday 5 June
5:30pm - USA v Qatar
8pm - England v Cyprus

Friday 6 June
5:30pm - Cyprus v USA
8pm - England v Qatar

Sunday 8 June
1pm - Cyprus v Qatar
3:30pm - England v USA

 


While the England camp has every reason to be optimistic, the American’s will be coming to Newcastle as arguably the favourites to win the tournament. 

USA are the highest-ranked team in the competition by quite some distance (No34 in the World), and having beaten England 2-1 in an epic encounter last year will feel confident that they can repeat that achievement on this occasion.

The Three Lions also have recent history with the other two nations, playing Qatar for the first time last autumn in Doha - winning the first game 3-1 before drawing a 6-6 thriller. 

And over recent years, England have enjoyed mixed fortunes in a number of dramatic and significant matches against Cyprus. 

The two nations have been drawn regularly against each other in UEFA Euros and FIFA World Cup groups and faced each other in three separate qualifying tournaments since 2009: on each occasion England winning narrowly. However, in 2010 England travelled to Cyprus were beaten heavily in two friendly matches.

Tickets for the tournament are still available to be purchase here.

By FA Staff