U23 World Cup 2014 – Day 3

England had two matches on Day 3 of the U23 Korfball World Cup in Rotterdam; Chinese Taipei and Czech Republic.

First up for England was the team ranked third in the World, Chinese Taipei. Final score 8-14 with the half-time score 1-6.

Speaking after the result England coach Dave Buckland said: “8-14 against Chinese Taipei. Our defensive plan was good. I’m pleased that we kept them to 14.  Once again our problem was in attack, it was the same problem.

“Creating goal scoring opportunities isn’t a problem, it’s the finishing. We had 13 free passes with no goals. Chances have to be taken.

“It was disappointing that Chinese Taipei played a number of senior players against us considering it’s an U23 challenge. I’m going to take that as a positive”

England goal scorers vs Chinese Taipei: Fitzgerald (3), Bailey (3), A Bell (1), Brown (1)

The second match for England was 2 hours later against Czech Republic. In a low scoring match England won the match 7-3. Coach Buckland said: “We dominated the match. Our defence was excellent, we conceded just one goal in the first half and two in the second half.

“Scoring 7 goals was good but it should have been a lot more, 14 or over!”

England goal scorers vs Czech Republic: Hicks (2), O Bell (2), Brown (1), Gore (1), Wilson (1).

England will now go onto play for 3rd place tomorrow (Tuesday) again against the Czech Republic. The bronze medal match starts at 11:45 GMT.