Courtesy: The FA.com (see this page to have a look at the match highlights)


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England Futsal Team

Saturday, 10 October, 2009

Futsal Head Coach Peter Sturgess remains positive after game with Israel.

England 1-3 Israel
International Futsal Friendly
Point 4, Hereford
Friday 9 October

England Futsal Head Coach Peter Sturgess was in positive mood on Friday evening, despite seeing his team turned over by Israel at the Point 4 venue in Hereford.

The Three Lions squad have been together all week in training ahead of their two games with Israel and Sturgess believes he has seen enough from his players both in training and in the game that there could be a bright future for English Futsal.

If anything, Sturgess' team maybe peaked too early on Friday when captain Luke Ballinger slotted them ahead in the sixth minute after a fine move through midfield, but an equally stunning equaliser from Lior Cohen two minutes later brought things level.

Israel then took the lead with two more quickfire goals in the 16th and 19th minutes from Adam Cohen and Marko Hazan to go in at the break with a commanding lead.

The second half saw no goals, but both teams came close and there was some exciting Futsal on show for the lively crowd in attendance.

"We started really well and took the lead, but what we're not used to doing at international level is taking the lead and holding onto it for long periods," explained Sturgess after the game.

"For us to take the lead and cause them some problems was a great positive for us, but what we didn't do was hold that lead for long enough.

"When you get in front in international football, you have to keep that lead."

The two teams will meet again on Saturday for a second game and Sturgess will be looking to find out more about his team in that meeting, but he has been pleased with his players so far.

"The lads have actually taken quite a bit of confidence from the game, so we hope to build on that," he added.

"I've been happy with the whole week and the commitment of the England Futsal team is never in question, it's just how quickly we can get to grips with this great game of Futsal.

"We have another training camp in November and then we travel to Libya to play them and they're the African champions so that will be a real test."