When England kick off their second UEFA FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Seychelles 2025\u2122 qualifier against Spain on 5 October, the Three Lions will hope to be playing for a place in the Round of 16. For Tommy Jackson, though, it will be a special day no matter the standings in Group A.<\/p>\n
If selected, and assuming he features in the opening-day clash with Azerbaijan on 4 October, the goalkeeper will be celebrating his 100th cap for the nation at the age of just 25. But when you consider he\u2019s been saving in the sand since the age of nine, and first donned the England gloves at just 16, it\u2019s no surprise his achievements belie his youth.<\/p>\n
\u201cOriginally I wasn\u2019t a goalkeeper, and on grass I\u2019m not a goalkeeper,\u201d Jackson said in an interview with FIFA. \u201cWhen I was back on the Isle of Wight with my youth team, our goalkeeper left and the position went into rotation. I went in goal, made a good couple of saves, and then just kept going in every week. Then I went in goal for beach soccer and that\u2019s when I got spotted \u2013 it just stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n
His laudable cap tally is made even more impressive by the fact that Jackson is yet to make an appearance beyond the first round of the UEFA qualifiers, nevermind the global finals. But he\u2019s more determined than ever to ensure his road to 200 caps includes stops at the biggest tournament of all.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be unbelievable [to go to a World Cup],\u201d he admitted. \u201cI\u2019ve been playing for England since I was 16 and we\u2019ve never got out of the [first] group stage in the qualifiers. It would be good for us boys, having been together for so many years, and then doing something like getting to a World Cup. To make the World Cup would be a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
In total, 21 nations are heading to Cadiz to try and make it to the Seychelles next May. The qualification tournament runs from 4 October to 13 October, with the top two from the pair of final groups punching their tickets to the Indian Ocean archipelago.<\/p>\n
You\u2019ll face Azerbaijan, Spain, and Georgia in your qualifying group. What do you make of that opposition?
\nTommy Jackson: I think we\u2019re fairly confident. Our last competitive game was against Spain in the Neom Cup and we actually beat them with six players, so I think they are more on the side of thinking they need to \u2018get revenge\u2019 on us. But we\u2019re in the mindset of feeling very confident because we beat them in Saudi Arabia coming in as the underdogs. I think the boys are fired up for it. We should be beating Georgia, and Azerbaijan will be a good test as well. But Spain is the big one.<\/p>\n
What are England\u2019s ambitions for the qualification campaign?
\nWe want to come second really [rather than third] so we don\u2019t face the top side of the other group, and then it would give us a good chance in the Round of 16. But I think it\u2019s doable for us this year with the side we\u2019ve got and the new players that have come in. I think we\u2019ve got a good chance.<\/p>\n
Sener Boyraz & Angel Torres have been appointed as a director and coach respectively. Are they signs of progress for the sport?
\nHe\u2019s [Angel] been with the Spanish national team coaching, but he\u2019s not involved with them anymore. We had him in Turkey a few years ago and he\u2019s coming along with us this year as well to Spain \u2013 it\u2019s definitely a sign of progress. When I first started there were just two or three behind the scenes booking flights, accommodation, and posting things on social media. But now we\u2019ve got quite a few behind the scenes, which is really good.<\/p>\n
Did you watch much of Dubai 2024?
\nYeah, I did. The standard was very high. [It was] competitive, very fast-paced, technically very good as well. But I think that\u2019s everything we aspire to be.<\/p>\n
Are there any goalkeepers you take inspiration from?
\nElliot [Mounoud] the Swiss goalkeeper, and Andrade who was the old Portuguese goalkeeper; he was very good. I\u2019m always watching them, trying to learn new things off them. I\u2019d say I\u2019m more of a ball-player, maybe not making as many saves as I should, but I think I make up for it with my feet.<\/p>\n
Are there any players you\u2019re looking forward to coming up against this month?
\nChiky Ardil. He\u2019s a good player, I\u2019ve watched him for a couple of years. He scores unbelievable goals; that would be a good test for me. All the Spanish team are very good players, so that would be a good test for us all really.<\/p>\n
What has been your proudest moment in an England shirt to date?
\nProbably scoring two goals against Saudi Arabia in Saudi Arabia [at the Neom Cup], because they were my first-ever goals for England. And I hit the crossbar, so I should have made it a hat-trick which would have been unbelievable, but it didn\u2019t come off. But that was very special for me. And obviously my 100th cap against Spain, in Spain. My mum and dad live in Spain and are coming down to watch, and my girlfriend and 12-week old baby will be watching from home, so that will be a special moment as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When England kick off their second UEFA FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Seychelles 2025\u2122 qualifier against Spain on 5 October, the Three Lions will hope to be playing for a place in the Round of 16. For Tommy Jackson, though, it will be a special day no matter the standings in Group A. If selected, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1028826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,27192],"class_list":["post-1028822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1028822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1028822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1028826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1028822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1028822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1028822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}