England’s Futsal team had a baptism of fire as they entered the UEFA Main Round of the FIFA World Cup for the first time in their short history and ended up on the wrong end of a 7-0 defeat.
It’s a significant achievement for the Three Lions to reach this stage after qualifying in Israel two months ago October and the stakes were suddenly much higher England took on the group favourites Ukraine, ranked eighth in the world.
Ukraine 7-0 England
FIFA Futsal World Cup
UEFA Main Qualifying Round
Thursday 10 December 2015
Gyor, Hungary
By Bob Cotter
And they showed what a slick outfit they were as they started the game with a real purpose to establish an advantage over England, which saw them take a 4-0 lead inside 16 minutes.
Despite the score, young England keeper Tom Dennis had shone in the first half and could reflect well on his heroics in keeping the score down.
England began the second half much better and began to match Ukraine in a much closer contest.
But the opposition were always dangerous and their swift movement and slick passing game left England exposed with a further three goals following after the break to leave a final score of 7-0.
England head coach Peter Sturgess was disappointed but philosophical after the game, admitting: "We were undone by the clinical nature and finishing of the Ukrainians and we are now well aware of how much we have to improve our game further.
"We will look forward to the next game with Hungary on Friday , knowing it will be a tough test against the host nation.
"We need to get ourselves back on track to have a chance of qualifying for the next stage and we will do our best to overcome tonight’s disappointment."
England: Dennis(GK), Rexha, Wallace, Medina, Cook, Reed, Goldstein, Webb, Ward, Ballinger, Kilman, Parkes, Croft (GK), Jennings.
Head Coach: Peter Sturgess
