'We've shown the next generation what can be achieved'

Captain Keryn Seal has vowed that England will emerge stronger than ever from the IBSA Blind Football European Championships after suffering further penalty shootout misfortune in their third-place play-off clash with Spain.

England were on the cusp of a place in both the final and the Rio 2016 Paralympics on Friday evening, but successive losses to Russia and Spain means that they’ve now finished outside the medals.

And the manner of both losses could not have been crueller, with penalties again deciding the third-place play-off with Spain after Jono Heenan misfired from the spot.

But Seal, who won his 101st cap against Spain, believes England have taken their game to the next level regardless of the result.

“The squad as a whole has played some fantastic football at times,” said Seal. “We haven’t completely put that together in both halves of football in every single game, but there’s been some signs of where this team has come from in the last two years. There’s been some great team football.

“Both sides were hurting massively from their semi-final defeats yesterday. Over the last 15 years, us and Spain have very rarely come away from a European Championships without a medal, so there was going to be a lot on the line. 

“Nobody wanted to walk away and not pick up a bronze medal. It was cagy, the pitch was dry, both sides tried to play their best games. But that’s what happens with two good sides. I like to think we had the better chances.”

And Seal fully intends to skipper the side all the way to Tokyo 2020 – insisting he won’t be too long in the tooth by then.

“To the next generation of blind children and their parents, we’ve shown what can be achieved with a little hard work,” added Seal.

“I really want to carry on going. Tokyo 2020 is a long-term aim. I’ll be 38 then, but I’d like to think that if I can manage my body and keep training hard, like I have been, I can carry on and help this team get there.”