Coach Carlos Amaral reports that in the year 2005 there has been a change of management for the England Ladies.
He has taken over the coaching along with the England senior captain Darrel Pearce as his assistant, Dave Fothergill the managerial position and Jayne Street the Physiotherapist. With our plan taking them towards the 2006 World Championships in Chile.
In June of this year the team was selected with a mixture of youth and experience and was to be led by our Captain Clare Hallam:
1-Emma Russell
2-Fiona Bishop
3-Ruth Russell
4-Claire Hallam
5-Julie Finch
6-Katie Nolan
7-Claire Currey
8-Lucy Rivers
9-Beth Cook
10-Rachel Joy
The team departed England on the 16th July for their destination, a small village in Mira- Portugal.
17th July England v Portugal.
England’s 1st game was against the favourites for the trophy and home team Portugal. The girls started very well instantly winning possession and holding the ball for long periods of the first half. The Portuguese showed their frustration at not being able to break down the England defence by going on to a full out press. The girls continued to play well until the break leaving the half time score 0-0. The second half showed much of the same with England continuing to have good periods of possession and good defence. The first real major mistake came with 6 minutes remaining on the clock. A mix up in the defence led to the first goal for Portugal. Then a second goal followed shortly by a miss placed pass which led to a well taken goal on the counter attack. It was apparent by this time that the girls had ran out of legs as the defence got more and more stretched for the first real period of play. This led to Portugal’s third. The final score was 3-0 to Portugal.
19th July England v Switzerland.
After the team enjoyed a nice relaxing day off, their 2nd opponents were Switzerland. The team got off to a great start nearly scoring from the centre. After a few minutes the deadlock was broken with Clare Hallam bringing the ball out of defence around a Swiss player to see their defence completely open up and finish with a brilliant flick shot to the top left corner. The first half continued with England controlling the game and playing some excellent attacking hockey. England’s 2nd goal came with what could only be described as the best team goal of the tournament so far. It was a great counter attack 3v 2 with good passes to leave Clare Curry to slot home on the far post. Half time score 2-0 to England. The second half saw England start well only to have an unlucky penalty decision against them. The Swiss scored and then left the girls in a state of shock! The defence looked a little frail and the attack nervous with passes going astray all over the place. After a time out and some blunt words the girls came out a lot more focused and started to produce good opportunities to score. Final score England win 2-1.
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Reporter: Aileen Barker
