England 1 Chile 10 – (Half Time 1-7)

The first 15 minutes against one the best teams in this Championship was very good, with man to man restricted pressuring the man with the ball working very well.
Chile scored one goal but we reacted very well and we scored from a very good counter attack.
The score line of 1-1 with only 5 minutes remaining in the first half was well deserved by our team, but then in the last 5 minutes we conceded 6 goals !!!!!!
During this period the team lost complete control of the game, which at this level must not be allowed to happen.

The team talk at half time was to try and understand what happened and to ensure that the players started the second half again with the attitude shown in first 15 minutes of the match.

In the second half the team played consistent hockey in defence and created good counter attacks.
Chile only managed to score with 3 minutes remaining with a dubiously awarded penalty.
Then with only 20 seconds left we conceded 2 more goals.

This game was a lesson for our players. They have to understand that they must concentrate for the whole game, the team has to be prepared to suffer and to solve the problems without panicking.

Finally I would like to say that although for 80% of the game we were very competitive I was disappointed that we were so naive for the other 20%.

Goal Scorer: Sam Kay

Today we play South Africa which is an important game to define positions in the group stage.

Carlos Amaral