Manchester Futsal Club endured a harsh lesson in finishing at the hands of the national side in a friendly fixture at Point 4 in Hereford on Sunday. Having been invited by the FA to provide opposition for the climax of England’s training camp Manchester struggled to adapt to the international environment and the Point 4 court in the early exchanges and were duly punished. Manchester paid the ultimate price in giving their opposition too much respect and as a result found themselves 3-0 in the first 4 minutes as three mistakes were dispatched clinically by England. It was shattering blow for the FA Futsal Conference North side and Head Coach Frietas rightly pulled his team off and demanded an explanation during the time time-out. Pete Sturgess’s England outfit looked bright after their 2 day together and their squad size allowed them to make several full team changes to rotate the established squad with a few of the new trialists. Manchester were able to contain their movement but were vulnerable to the counter-attack on a couple of occasions when Magalhaes had to come to their rescue.
Three goals down to an international side was always going to be a tough ask for Manchester to get back into the game but to their credit Manchester responded with extended period of possession despite some further missed opportunities from England. Manchester switched to playing with goalkeeper Magalhaes and were having some joy with Richardson bringing Ovechkin and Bond into the game more as an attacking presence. The change asked more questions of England and as Manchester settled and grew in confidence it appeared to unsettle Ballinger and his colleagues. Manchester were desperate for a break and deservedly got it when Richardson cleverly held onto the ball in the box only for Holmes to slide tackle him from behind and foul the Manchester forward. The referee rightly pointed to the spot despite the protests from Holmes and Manchester had an opportunity to get back into the game and restore some pride after the earlier catastrophe. Ovechkin stepped up to hammer the spot kick into the bottom left hand corner giving Holmes no chance. Bond then had a great opportunity to connect with a well worked corner set play but fired it over when he should have hit the target.

The second half resumed with more rotation of the England squad which as the game wore on became more of a challenge for the fitness levels of the Manchester side. For ten minutes they were able to contain England without being greatly troubled other than some surging runs from Ballinger as he looked to dribble his way through Manchester’s back line. Richardson was showing some nice touches once again but Manchester lacked a cutting edge once again in the final third, an issue that they are going to have to address if they are to challenge for honours next year in the league. As for England, their sizeable squad now seems to show some promise and potential to move forward but still they appear to have no stand out players with real futsal intelligence. Two of the players that will potentially offer this for them are Reed and Wooton who are now plying their trade abroad but were unfortunately missing from this get together. As Manchester tired they were again punished for basic errors. After a long period of Manchester possession Ballinger restored England’s three goal advantage from a three yard tap in. Bahzuki then conceded a penalty within the last 5 minutes before Richardson uncharacteristically played the ball straight to the opposition to make it 6-1 to England.

England Futsal Manager Sturgess was happy with the test that Manchester provided as he looks to step up preparations for the trip to face Libya where England will need to be at their best in what is likely to be a tough trip to face the African futsal giants who will be looking to avenge their recent defeats in October to Uruguay and Iran in the Al Fateh Confederations Futsal Cup. For England it will be the start of their gradual return to the international futsal stage following their recent string of friendlies against National League opposition over the last 12 months where Sturgess has been able to test the depth of his squad.

Despite the scoreline, which in some ways flattered England, for Manchester it was a case of damaged limitations given their poor start. The team now return to training and friendly fixtures as they look to introduce some new players to the fold that didn’t make the trip to Hereford. Lessons learned and a great day out, but for the meantime it is back to the hard work required for the rapidly approaching season ahead.

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