“It will be a really good test for us against the best teams” - Gary Marheineke looks ahead to the Amp Futbol Cup

Image: Three Lines Photography

Writes: Edward Perry

A new era begins for The EAFA as Gary Marheineke takes charge of the men’s national team in his first managerial tournament this weekend.

The Amp Futbol Cup takes place in Poland on Saturday and Sunday (28 & 29th June), with all the action streamed live on YouTube.

Marheineke is no stranger to the tournament, having featured in The EAFA’s winning sides as a goalkeeper alongside Assistant Coach Ray Westbrooke, “though it feels like a lifetime ago!” joked the Head Coach.

He sings the praises of the work that has been done before his tenure, “We’ve inherited an exceptional group. The togetherness, the understanding and the position they were in when we started as staff is really positive. That’s helped us in what detail we can give.”

Now six months into the hot seat, Gary and his staff look forward to seeing how this talented squad fares.

“It’s quite exciting to go into this coming weekend with the group to see what they know, what they’ve learned and where we are at. We’re six months in, so what have we learned and what messages do we need to work on ahead of the Nations League.”

England will face a pool of top international sides in hosts Poland, European champions Turkey, Japan and AAFCON runner-up Morocco.

“The expectations are there to go and compete. We understand that there’s some exceptional teams playing in the tournament, but we are a good team and can go there to win games of football. As long as we do the right things, stick to our values, try and execute our game plans, we’ll go from there.”

Image: Three Lines Photography

The manager’s experience of the Amp Futbol Cup means he knows of the hard work ahead this weekend, “As former players, we have the experience of managing the load.

“The amount of games they play over the weekend, the mental fatigue of the players. How we use the downtime will probably play a part in terms of experience from all the years as a player.

“But the players we have are already really experienced in tournament football. They probably have the understanding and experience within themselves to manage the stress and demand of what they’re about to face at the weekend.”

Not that Gary has shied away from his own physical challenge, undertaking a charity bike ride that visited every football league ground in London in support of his team alongside EAFA’s Ian Cookson and lifelong friends.

“The bike ride was an amazing day with amazing people. I have to shout out Luke Claxton, who helped organise it and a lot of the people who took part were people who cycle with him across Europe.

“They helped us raise some valuable funds to go towards the preparations of the Nations League and the World Cup.

“I also have to shout out everybody’s kind generosity in sponsoring and donating, no matter how big or small, everything helps. The players, the staff and the charity are grateful and without these people supporting us and helping us out with funding we wouldn’t be able to operate.

“And we wouldn’t be able to operate without our sponsors. That is across the charity too, with our juniors, our women’s national team, the league. We solely rely on sponsors and donations, we are so grateful for everyone that does donate and support us.”

Fixtures - Local Time:

Saturday 28th June

England vs Poland - 12.45 (11.45 BST)

England vs Turkey - 19.30 (18.30 BST)

Sunday 29th June

England vs Japan - 12.30 (11.30 BST)

England vs Morocco - 15.45 (14.45 BST)

Watch all the action live via Amp Polska YouTube