England, Estonia, and the Swiss all took part in competitive training sessions in the Costa Brava from the 1st-4th of April
The three National Selections of Switzerland, England, and Estonia fought against each other in Catalonia on the Costa Brava for an intense training camp, which started on April 1st and finished on April 4th. Proceedings for this all-important training camp began on Wednesday with England facing Estonia. The Three Lions and the Blueshirts battled to a 3-3 draw, with Clarke scoring twice for the Brits. The second match of the day was also England vs Estonia but this time the English triumphed by a score of 6-1, with Clarke continuing a scoring tear, netting two more goals, to go along with two goals from the prolific scorer Day. The familiar foes saw each other again the next, on Thursday, with England prevailing by a score of 4-1. The goals continued from the English stars Day and Clarke, both scoring twice.
The beach soccer heavyweights, Switzerland, stepped on the pitch for their first exhibition match of the week on Thursday, in the second match of the day. The match pitted England and Switzerland, and La Nati came out on top by a score of 4-1. Meier scored three goals for the Swiss and carried them to the victory. The Swiss then played their second match of the day against Estonia and controlled things from the start, finishing the Estonians with a score of 13-3. Switzerland had three players score multiple times, Borer with four goal, Ott with four, and Leu with two scores.
Friday the 3rd had possibly the most exciting match, and it was between England and Estonia. The match went to overtime, tied at 2-all, and then the match went into penalties, which Estonia won by a score of 3-2. The final day in the scenic beach setting had Switzerland defeating England by a score of 8-5. The tight match exemplified prime beach soccer as Stankovic, Borer, and Leu scored twice for the Swiss, and Temple and Clarke netted all five of the Three Lions’ goals, three from Temple and two from Clarke.
The squads have been preparing for the Euro Beach Soccer League and Switzerland has two added incentives, they need to be ready for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015 and the first every European Games Baku 2015. The World Cup will be in Espinho, Portugal from the 9th-19th of July. The European Games will take place in June in Baku, Azerbaijan.
