Last June, the England Veterans, featuring Midsomer Norton goalkeeper, Steve Phillips, retained the Seniors’ World Cup for the fifth time.
The team have travelled back out to Thailand to defend their title, although on this occasion, it is without their influential goalkeeper.
The England Veterans made a winning start to this year’s competition, defeating Taiwan by four goals to two at the National Suphachalsai Stadium on Monday evening. Former Bristol Rovers striker, Barry Hayles, was the star of the show, scoring a hat-trick in fifty minutes, with Chris Freestone also getting on to the scoresheet. England were cruising with a 3-0 lead at half-time, but there was late drama as Taiwan threatened a comeback in the final quarter of the game, scoring twice in the closing stages.
The Seniors’ World Cup was initially conceived by the Thai Seniors Football Association to promote tourism in the wake of the Tsunami. Since 2006, the tournament has become an annual event, held in a different province of Thailand each year.
Ian Nockolds