Mark flies Falcons flag for England in Tokyo…
Falcon Mark Hughes picked up a silver medal playing for England Over-75s at the recent World Soccer Festa 70Plus in Tokyo – which featured national squads in groups for 70, 75 and 80+ teams.
Mark’s England squad was grouped with teams representing Germany, Japan, Taiwan and the USA (GoldenState), Taiwan. The group games saw England beat Japan 5-0, Taiwan 5-1 (including a Hughes goal), USA 4-0 (Mark on target again plus an assist); they lost 5-2 to Germany in a group game that was closer than the score suggests to set up a semi-final v Wales which England won on penalties after leading and conceding a late equaliser.
Unfortunately England had to face Germany again in the final and lost 3-0.
Mark commented: “The Germans deserved it. They are all very good, no weak players so they can revolve the whole squad continuously - which we weren’t really able to do. The German team are fully affiliated to the German FA, everything paid for with a professional manager and coach and about 6 ex-pros in the squad. It showed.”
A great achievement for yet another international on the Falcons books.
Over 75s: Final friendly tournament of season…
Our 75s competed their final friendly tournament of the season with an enjoyable morning of four games played in a great spirit.
Results:
Falcons 0 Oakley 2
Falcons 2 (Quinn, Evison/pen) Billericay 0
Falcons 0 Barnet 1
Falcons 0 All Stars 0
Squad: Brian Byford GK, Reg Swallow, David Holborn, Steve Maynard, George Fleetwood, Pete Quinn, Rob Evison
We will finish our season with a cupcompetition on 21st Oct .
Well played all
Ken 👍 ⚽
Over 75s Cup results
Falcons 0 Billericay 0
Falcons 0 Norwich 1
Falcons 1 (Mark Hughes) Oakley 1
Falcons 0 Barnet 1
Third place play off
Falcons 0 Oakley 1
Irish Falcons: Wonder goal for Gary; debut for John
Falcons Gary Mathews and John Smith pulled on the green of Ireland in late August to represent the country at The Maureen Evans International Memorial Cup walking football tournament held in Neath, Wales.
The tournament featured teams from Wales, England, Ireland and a Caribbean squad with competitions at levels from Over-50s up to Over 70s in a round-robin group format.
Gary had his shooting boots on again and scored against England (“as usual” according to Gary) and Wales as Ireland won the Over-60s division. The Welsh captain described Gary’s goal v Wales as the best he’d seen (video evidence required) .
John made his international debut for the over-70s Irish squad who ended the day with one win and 3 defeats.
A great performance by both our Irish Falcons.
Congratulations.
John Smith also turned out for Ireland Over 70s in October in two matches vs England. John was on the winning side for a 3-0 victory and England won the other game 1-0