{"id":1527,"date":"2018-06-14T09:22:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-14T08:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/?p=1527"},"modified":"2021-08-05T12:23:22","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T11:23:22","slug":"wfc2018-interview-james-nicholls-cascadia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wfc2018-interview-james-nicholls-cascadia\/","title":{"rendered":"WFC2018 Interview \u2013 James Nicholls (Cascadia)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Pat McGuinness \u2013 Twitter:\u00a0@patsfballblog<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Cascadia were not reckoned to be among the front-runners for this year\u2019s World Football Cup as they had not played a game prior to the tournament \u2013 but they put everyone on notice with two impressive wins in Group A to qualify for the quarter-finals, thrashing Tamil Eelam 6-0 to knock Ellan Vannin, one of the pre-tournament favourites, out of the competition.<\/p>\n

Manager James Nicholls was a happy man when CONIFA caught up with him on ahead of the quarter finals, and had this to say about the game against Tamil Eelam: \u201cWe were really dominant, especially in the first half, we went 2-0 up at half-time. We were unsure what to tell the players during the break, but we decided that the best thing to do was to go for the six goals. We could have been five or six up at the start of the half, but our finishing was poor. We didn\u2019t look like we were going to do it for long spells, but we eventually came up with the goods. I thought it was thoroughly deserved and the boys really, really worked hard. It gives us a chance in the quarter-finals and to go further than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though Cascadia lost their opening fixture 4-1 against Ellan Vannin, Nicholls was forgiving of his team, who had only arrived in London the day before the game after a long flight from the United States. \u201cWe were disappointed with the result against Ellan Vannin. For large parts of the game, particularly in the first half, we were very, very dominant. The players struggled in the first half; the players were a little bit jet-lagged having been in the country for less than twenty-four hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the football we played was breathtaking at times and it set the foundation for what we thought we could do. We were disappointed with the final score because it wasn\u2019t a 4-1 game.
\n\u201cWe built on that against Barawa. Again, at times our football was frightening with our pace and our movement. We were disappointed with the sending-off of Josh Doughty; a shame, but he\u2019s served his suspension now and will come in. Some of the football we\u2019ve played in the first three games would be as good as anybody\u2019s played and if we can do that again\u2026 we could go far.\u201d
\nTo say that the North Americans were dismissed before the tournament would be putting it lightly, but Nicholls and his staff were undaunted. As he pointed out, the squad has its experienced players and more than a sprinkling of talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody gave us a chance; Paddy Power had us down as fourth favourites to qualify. Nobody really fancied us, we were a largely unknown quantity. As players and as staff, we believed in ourselves and we knew our own qualities. We have players such as James Riley who has played more than 300 games in the MLS, ex-Manchester United youngster Josh Doughty and other boys such as the Wilson brothers who have come in and done really, really well. We\u2019ve got Max Oldham who will be one of the stand-out players. We knew we had a decent squad, but that it would depend on how long it took for us to click, and it clicked quicker than anybody thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

The players have not had much time to gel, but Nicholls, who played for Cumbrian side Kendal Town before joining the Cascadia set-up, said that they quickly made up for lost time after their first-ever training session as a team: \u201cMost of the players arrived on Wednesday morning at ten, we trained at Barnet\u2019s ground from 12:00 to 2:00, just so we got to know each other. Nobody knew anybody\u2019s names. We trained on Friday afternoon, played on Saturday and Sunday and got two results. The boys have come from literally nothing and put in two unbelievable performances and they should be really proud of what they\u2019ve achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now Karpatalya await in the quarter-final, and although Nicholls in under no illusions about the task awaiting his side at Bracknell, he remains positive that his team can do well. \u201cWe\u2019re under no doubts that it\u2019ll be our toughest game of the tournament, but we\u2019re at the business end of it and that\u2019s where we all wanted to be. We\u2019ve had a look at Karpatalya, they\u2019re a footballing side, a physical side and we know we\u2019re in for a battle but I\u2019d back my boys against anybody and hopefully we can go out there and perform.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat McGuinness<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Pat McGuinness \u2013 Twitter:\u00a0@patsfballblog Cascadia were not reckoned to be among the front-runners…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-global"],"yoast_head":"\nWFC2018 Interview \u2013 James Nicholls (Cascadia) | CONIFA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.conifa.org\/en\/wfc2018-interview-james-nicholls-cascadia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"WFC2018 Interview \u2013 James Nicholls (Cascadia) | CONIFA\" \/>\n<meta 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