England management duo Henry Muggeridge and Arjun Jung were disappointed but praised tournament organisers Hungary after their return from the Budapest 6aside World Cup in Hungary last week.
Henry said: “It really is an amazing experience, and we are treated very well. We are provided with brand new Nike kits, clothing and tracksuits, free flights and transfers, free accommodation for everybody in plush hotels, and are given thousands of pounds to spend on food for the team by Leisure Leagues, so we really can’t complain about anything”.
“On the pitch, we didn’t quite do as we expected and, let’s be honest, are disappointed to go out in the last 16 phase to Poland.
“Losing badly to Ukraine in our last group game, even though we knew we were through, probably didn’t help and we were perhaps a little short of confidence when facing Poland, who we knew are an incredibly strong team, having reached the finals in the last two world cups”.
Arjun said, “The pace, energy, and the sheer speed at which you get closed down by these European teams is phenomenal and we need to understand in England that simply having superb technical ability doesn’t mean that we can pass our way through teams without having the novel tactics, which a lot of these teams use to win their matches”.
“We are going to have to regroup and rethink how we approach the tactics in this form of 6aside football. In England we are the best team, quite obviously as being the official national team, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we are going to beat other international teams at this high level with the tactics that everyone uses in England. We need to look at others, adapt and come up with novel ways, because with our technical ability and our skill levels, which I think all teams would say are second to none, we have the basis to go on and win the tournament next time round”.