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England’s World Championship Squad Revealed

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fatallightning
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England’s World Championship Squad Revealed

Postby fatallightning Thu Apr 08, 2010 3:00 pm

England have named their 23-man squad and seven reserves for this summer's World Championships in Manchester.

Head coach Dave Elwood and his coaching staff have had to make some tough decisions about who should and shouldn't be included.

But those decisions have been made and now the national men's side have just over three months to make sure they are ready for action when this year's senior competition kicks off on Thursday 15th July, with the hosts to face the Iroquois Nationals in the opening match of this year's event.

The majority of the team, barring a number of overseas players included in this year's line-up, will meet up in Manchester next week for their first training session since the final squad was announced.

Then the squad will be joined by some of their overseas players on an intensive whistle-stop tour of the East Coast of America early next month, a weekend schedule which will see the national side test themselves against "high level" opposition according to Elwood.

"We've had to make some really tough decisions, it's the hardest part of my of my job when I have to tell a player he's not selected, but that's what I have to do. It's never easy," said Elwood.

In total there are 13 players selected from England's successful gold-medal winning side from 2008, while three players have made the jump up from Under-19 level for senior call-ups.

There are three overseas players included, as well as three American-based players and two Canadian-based players, all of whom have British passports and so have official international clearance to play for England.

"The vast majority of our players are based in England. We have got three overseas players, but we have also selected a number of overseas-based players who are British passport holders and whom we feel will benefit the squad," added Elwood.

"It's always very difficult to replace a homegrown player with an overseas player, but our job is to put the best team on the field. We feel we've done that.

"All of the overseas players have impressed us and fitted into the squad. That was very important to us.

""We feel as though we've got a good mix of youth and experience. The younger players will bring that youth and enthusiasm we are looking for, while the more experienced players in the squad will provide cool heads and experience is something which we cannot buy."

In all there are 10 players in the squad who competed for England at the 2006 World Cup in Ontario, Canada with Elwood and his team not afraid to make changes.

Cuts have been made along the way since the national side trialed for players, but more recently Robin Foster (Heaton Mersey), Gordon Burdis (Cheadle), Chris Manwearing (unattached, overseas), Neil Marshall (Rochdale), Richard Wilson (Stockport), Simon Jones (Sheffield Steelers) and Simon McGuigan (Stockport) all missed the final squad cut.

"It's an exciting time for everybody, we're only a few months away from the tournament and this where we really start intensifying our training," said Elwood.

"We've got our long weekend on the East Coast of America, which will be a real test for all the players.

"And once the league season has finished it will give us more time to practice as a team and towards our goal of being successful in Manchester in July. That's the challenge we are looking forward to."

England's World Cup squad

Goalkeepers
Ben McAllister (Stockport)
Nick Anderton (Wilmslow)

Defenders
Andy Baxter (Brooklands Hulmeians)
Paul Ryan (Manchester Waconians)
Tom Williamson (Stockport)
Joe Duncan (NYAC)
Jordan Levack (Ohio State)

Face-off
Tom Gallon (Heaton Mersey)
Evan Roberts (Bryant University)

Long-stick midfielders
Sam Patterson (Stockport)
Jak Wawrzyniak (Heaton Mersey/ Avon Old Farms)

Midfielders
Alix Davidson (Wilmslow)
Andy Ellison (Heaton Mersey)
Tom Gosney (Stockport)
Mark Reynolds (Wilmslow)
Dave McCulloch (Heaton Mersey)
Matt Bagley (Walcountian Blues)
Sam Russell (Poynton & Whittier College)

Attackers
Nicky Watson (Rochdale)
Cayle Ratcliff (Nanaimo Timbermen)
Lewis Ratcliff (Nanaimo Timbermen)
Ady Bennet (Cheadle)
Todd Baxter (Denver University)


Reserves
Will Stelfox (Manchester Waconians)
Dave Cottam (Stockport)
Mike Worrall (Wilmslow)
Ian Davis (Wilmsow)
Ben Lyon (Sheffield Steelers)
Glenn Humphries (Rochdale)
Alistair Wallace (Mellor)

Head coach – Dave Elwood
Assistant coaches – Dan Green & Tom Wenham
Manager – Greg Caplin
Assistant manager/goalkeeping coach – Ravi Sitlani
Assistant manager – Bob Patterson
Physio – Matt Nugent
Sports Rehab – Rachel Lazenby
mike1970
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Postby mike1970 Thu Apr 08, 2010 6:57 pm

Lets just hope these non England players are better than the guys that have been cut, guys who've trained hard, played well and spent a small fortune in order to represent England - I doubt they'll be able to gel with the rest of the team in such a short time. It would be interesting to hear what the remaining England players themselves think about bringing in outsiders.
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Postby roflmaoyes Thu Apr 08, 2010 11:44 pm

I think team Englans should set example for the rest of european teams, to have tourist free team.
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Moaning Git
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Postby Moaning Git Fri Apr 09, 2010 1:30 am

Yes thats right, after all who the Hell wants to be in the Blue Division! :roll:
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Postby laxwill11 Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:09 am

mr git, do we take from that comment that you think an England team entirely made up of England-based players would be relegated from the blue div?
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Postby Gary Fri Apr 09, 2010 2:45 pm

Agree with all comments thus far on this thread, apart from those from Mr Git - no suprise there! Fail to see what benefit having these guys on our team has, especially for a championship held in Manchester - these americans/canadians may struggle with the climate, pasties and be unsure of the terms and conditions attached to a 'megarider' bus ticket.

Much better to expose 5-6 more players from our leagues to this experience, which may or may not see us end up one or two places down the pecking order - in the short term. Long term, can only do good.
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Postby Moaning Git Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:48 pm

Yes, quite honestly I do think that an all English squad could well struggle to stay in the Blue Division, sorry if you find such a comment shocking!

Gary, so do you disagree with all my comments? Good I like a good debate.... let me know when you have something sensible to say!
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Postby DanSawyer Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:08 pm

I don't know enough to have formed a proper opinion here, but I'll play devil's advocate for a moment.

Isn't it conceivable that guys from Bryant, Ohio State and wherever the other places are might actually be considerably better than the guys from England who didn't make the cut? Wouldn't you hope that the coaches could make that assessment? If so, isn't it arguable that there are enough opportunities to bring players on in tours and lesser championships but that the Worlds are a time to pick the strongest possible team?

Isn't it further conceivable that they would be sufficiently better for their skills to outweigh any potential gelling with their team-mates? I would certainly hope that anyone picked to play would make every effort to fit in and help others to do so.

Is it at all possible that a local team for local players, picked at the expense of better players who live abroad, might indeed have a shocker and find themselves out of the blue division? Unlikely, I hope, but impossible?

If it is indeed possible that a suboptimal team might be relegated, is it arguable that we should do whatever is takes within the rules to stay up? Would relegation affect funding and/or publicity (would a low result within the division?)? Somebody raised the point about long-term benefit of giving people more experience - I assume that our exposure to high-level play might be harmed by any potential relegation?


As I said, I don't really know any of this, but I'd be interested to know the answers. Personally, as someone who plays in the South (when I finally stop breeding and get back on the pitch...) I was happy to see a Blues player on the list. I only came to lax after the last Worlds - do southerners usually make it?
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Postby laxwill11 Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:07 pm

If it's solely about picking the best possible team, why not pick 23 US-based eligible players?

If it's about exposing players to a higher standard, then only picking 'fringe' players for the so-called lesser tournaments (euros?) is hardly going to achieve that.
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Postby DanSawyer Fri Apr 09, 2010 10:53 pm

Are there 23 US-based eligible players who are better than all the England-based players?
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Re:

Postby dmiddie Fri Apr 09, 2010 11:30 pm

DanSawyer wrote:Are there 23 US-based eligible players who are better than all the England-based players?


Yes, more!
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Postby DanSawyer Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:41 pm

Interesting. It does seem odd then, picking just a few. I suppose it could come down to the point about balancing a team who know each other against the very best players.

The other thing I meant to mention is that presumably guys who play for Bryant, Ohio etc bring with them experience that the domestic players don't have?
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Postby Moaning Git Sat Apr 10, 2010 5:08 pm

Yes they do, and to touch on the other points building a team is about getting the balance right on all the facets required and so the great and more diverse the pool the more fine can that balance be.
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gh07gh
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Postby gh07gh Sat Apr 10, 2010 7:24 pm

its not the team with the best players, its the players with the best team... End of. if people can commit equally to that of any UK based player they deserve to be on the team, if hey cant better luck next time................ :twisted:
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Re:

Postby PhilH Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:44 am

gh07gh wrote:its not the team with the best players, its the players with the best team... End of. if people can commit equally to that of any UK based player they deserve to be on the team, if hey cant better luck next time................ :twisted:


Fair play to you for that post. I was really disappointed to see you weren't in the final squad, because we thought you were awesome in the matches against us last season. It's not very often when a team can appreciate how good it is to watch an opponent while he is in the process of beating them!
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Re:

Postby DanSawyer Sun Apr 11, 2010 5:51 pm

gh07gh wrote:its not the team with the best players, its the players with the best team... End of. if people can commit equally to that of any UK based player they deserve to be on the team, if hey cant better luck next time................ :twisted:


The first part is true, but there's an implied caveat. The "players with the best team" necessarily includes an element of being the best players. Of course you can't just take the best players in the world and expect them to win without becoming a proper team, but you also can't take a group of guys who know each other inside out and will commit everything and expect them to win if they aren't terribly good lacrosse players. It's a truism that morale is the most important factor in war, but as the soldier who's short on ammo says "high spirits are no substitute for 300 rounds a minute" (pat on the back for anyone who get the quote).

By the same token, if I were best mates with the Gait twins, I suspect that you'd still be better off with Matt Danowski playing instead of me, even if he'd never met them...
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Postby Scotty Sun Apr 11, 2010 9:32 pm

......there are ILF rulings about the number of players a national team can select who are eligible. For a World Games anyone holding a passport through birth, by right or naturalisation can qualify, and then upto 4 other players (out of a squad of 23) can qualify through other criteria. This certainly helps limit the amount of non-resident English players.............
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Postby Gary Mon Apr 12, 2010 12:31 pm

Mr Git and Friends, sorry thought I had hidden my real arguement in there somewhere but will clarify.

Before I launch in, the context of my comments come from someone who has played in and around the Prem for last 10 or so years on and off, thereby witnessing the level of time, training and committment that players training with England have to devote. I have also seen how this level of input has improved said players - to the benefit of the league generally.

Where this good work stops is only exposing a select few of these squad players to the honour and experience of playing in a world champs. Instead offering this chance of a lifetime to someone else who though a gifted player will not (for obvious reasons) have trained for the last year or more and who after the champs (again for obvious reasons) will not bring anything to our league structure or the sharing of these experiences within our clubs and junior programmes.

In short - faced with the option of finishing say 4th in the world order with 10 or so non-resident players, or say 6th with a full squad from the north and south leagues (selected on merit) I would rather take the latter as a means of bolstering our game here on a day to day basis. I take all your points on funding etc, but with a limited gene pool of players, I would rather we reward players in our system with the honour and experience with the hope that this can then be fed through more people in the club structure.
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Postby Moaning Git Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:01 pm

Ok Gary i take where you are coming from, but I see that as an insular approach to the sport that may well see a limited improvement in the skills of some homegrown players who can afford or somehow find the funding to support their international development, but be detrimental to the growth and wider development of the sport.

The limited central funding that is available to minor non-Olympic sports goes to those who can demonstrate a growth in participation in target groups. Funding for Elite athetes is sucked up by mainly by Olympic and Mainline sports. To tap into that elite funding we have to show that we are competing at a World level..... not a European level so the Blue Division placing is currently vital.

I think that you have to be pragmatic in planning the development strategy, and as it has only recently been adopted by the ELA and without any wave of negative feedback from clubs and Unis, then i think the England Lacrosse Community needs to at least give it a chance and support its objectives, which do include switching additional resources to identifying and developing home grown talent. This is though a mid to long term programme and criticising the team selection for the fast approaching competition I simply see as damaging and divisive.
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Postby Lax Old Boy Mon Apr 12, 2010 4:15 pm

Good point well made Gary

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