Adam Lustigman hopes a lack of preparation will enable his WHAFC team to hit the ground running when they take part at the Jom Havoetbal competition in Amsterdam this weekend.
June 21, 2019 08:37
WHAFC (We Hate Arsenal Football Club) are one of 14 teams in the senior competition and they are ready for a marathon day on Sunday, when they play six games in less than six hours in Europe’s biggest annual Jewish football festival.
Two late withdrawals have left the WHFAC squad with 12 players, but Lustigman is hopeful the only English entrant in the seniors will do the country proud.
“The good thing is that we’ve avoided four-time holders Koetjes & Kalifas in the group stages, but the competition has never taken place this late in the year, so it will be warmer and tougher for the boys to cope with the conditions,” said Lustigman.
Last year WHAFC requested early kick-off times to avoid a clash with televised coverage of England’s matches at the World Cup.
Lustigman said: “We’ve kept our preparations low-key this time. We haven’t arranged any friendlies as I believe the boys will be hungrier if they don’t see a football for a while. Our hopes are not to suffer a record 7-0 defeat for second consecutive year.
“I’m also hoping for someone other than Ben Simons features on the scoresheet as we relied too heavily on him last year. We’ve drafted in three newcomers - Nick Whiting, Pete Williams, Perry Oliver, while Lee Dicker and Rob Pearl return to the squad.
“Nick Roman, Zuriel Solomon, Tony Plaskow miss out this year, while non-playing Darren Saffer is travelling despite finally hanging-up his lycra!”
Lustigman said: “It’s a great tournament. We’ve been happy to support it for well over half of the 40 years, but the signs are that we may struggle to make it to the 50th anniversary.”
SQUAD: David Garson, Adam Lustigman, Jamie Lustigman, Jason Friend, Jerry Asher, Lee Dicker, Rob Dicker, James Bloom, Ben Simons, Nick Whiting, Pete Williams, Perry Oliver. Non-playing staff – Darren Saffer