 |
|||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
England's Partially Sighted Football World Cup Squad Enjoy National Football Museum Send Off Prior to 2004 Tournament
The Stars of England's Partially Sighted Football Team were sent to the Partially Sighted World Football Championships with the best wishes of the Northwest ringing in their ears. The National Football Museum hosted a reception within the Museum to celebrate their participation in the Championships being played between the 11th and 18th December at the Manchester Veladrome.
To help celebrate, guest Managers from several Northwest clubs, along with schoolchildren from main, special schools and sports clubs along with local dignitaries were on hand to sign a gigantic “Good Luck” card for the 10 man England squad.
Mark Bushell from the Museum said:
‘The Partially Sighted Squad should be recognised for the outstanding work that they have done in recent years in developing and promoting their game. Just as the Full England squad and Women's team enjoy the respect of the nation so should the Partially Sighted team'.
12 teams will compete in the tournament including France , Russia, Spain, Brazil, Italy and European and World Champions Belarus, who are favourites for the Championship. But, as Bushell explained, they may have an advantage.
‘Their players are semi-professional and live and train together and are government funded so they will have an obvious head start. However, England has a strong squad and have improved over the last few years. As hosts they have not had to qualify whilst the other teams have qualified through their own world areas so the standard is extremely high'.