#England
PETE STURGESS
Despite being eliminated at the group stage in Malta, England Head Coach Pete Sturgess believes there are many positives to take from the UEFA European Championship campaign. The Three Lions narrowly missed out to Switzerland on goals scored, but Sturgess is happy with the way his squad went about their business. “Before the tournament started, I think we would have all settled for remaining unbeaten and getting seven points from the three games,” said the Head Coach. “However, in hindsight, it wasn’t enough. I always try to be positive and the three performances demonstrated how far we have progressed and the exciting thing is I believe there is more to come. “In Malta we were defensively strong and this is an area we have improved upon and this has been achieved without us losing our attacking threat and potency. Our game management is getting better and the time spent in the last game - almost 25-30 minutes - playing against the fly ‘keeper of Andorra was great practice for our squad.” England got off to a flier with a 3-0 victory over hosts Malta before grinding out a 2-2 draw with Latvia. The Three Lions then narrowly edged out Andorra 3-2 in their final group game but,
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unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to progress to the main round. Five of the 14-man squad who travelled to Malta were made up of players from Manchester and Baku. Stuart Cook and Jordan Parker were the MFC representatives, while James Dalton, Doug Reed and Agon Rexha flew the flag for the English champions. “It is always a positive thing if there are squad members from the same team,” continued Sturgess. “The knowledge about each other’s game and of player’s strengths and weaknesses can be deeper and this can help the team. “Having said that there will always be a desire to pick the strongest squad regardless of where they play. Playing for Baku obviously allows my players to train full time and, with some of the best players in Europe, so this is a real bonus. “The squad is building up to the FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifiers that take place later this year. This is another great challenge and, although we have some gaps in our programme because we missed out on qualification to the main round, we will try to prepare in the best possible way.” Not only does England have talented first team set-up, but the nation also boasts a batch of