Cushing: City are suited to World Sevens format | OneFootball

Nick Cushing believes City’s style of play will translate well in the upcoming World Sevens Football tournament.

The Blues are one of seven teams to compete in the inaugural competition in Portugal and will lock horns with Rosengard, Ajax and Bayern Munich in the group stage as we vie for a place in the knockout stage.

Each seven-a-side match will be 30 minutes long and split into two halves of 15 minutes with a five-minute break for half-time.

Since our Barclays Women’s Super League campaign concluded earlier this month, our training schedule been tailored to the competition's format as our meticulous preparation continued at the City Football Academy.

For our interim head coach, he says he’s excited for World Sevens and is sure our plethora of exciting attacking talent will relish the challenge ahead.

“We want to have the ball and play attacking football when we play in our regular season, so this format really suits us and the style of players we’ve got,” Cushing explained.

“Our methodology and philosophy sort of transmits into it and translates into this game really well.

“It’s fast, it’s going to be a fast game and physically really tough, the two 15-minute halves, so there’s going to be a lot of rotation of players and roll on roll off subs.

“I think it’s going to be a really exciting form of the game.

“It’s been interesting to change the format of the way we play the game, the size of the pitch and obviously taking out offsides.

“It’s been fun, so we’re excited for the tournament. I think the good part of this week is we’ve had time to prepare for it, play large parts of training in the format we’re going to play.

“It’s going to be fun.”

City have selected a 15-player squad to travel to Estoril, Lisbon which blends youth and experience which he gives us the best opportunity to be competitive at the tournament.

Among those travelling to Portugal are Academy graduates Codie Thomas and Mayzee Davies with the latter yet to make a senior appearance for the Blues.

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And Cushing says World Sevens also presents a chance for our young players to establish themselves in the senior squad ahead of next season.

“We’ve got some really good established players who’ll give us the chance to be competitive in the tournament,” he added.

“But there’s also a huge opportunity for potential players like Mayzee [Davies] and Codie [Thomas] will get opportunities to stake a claim for further minutes next year, it’s a great opportunity for them.”

City lock horns with Rosengard in our opening game of the tournament on Wednesday 21 May at 17:00 (UK) before playing Ajax and Bayern Munich, respectively, the day after.

Cushing says he’s anticipating a difficult test in each of our three group assignments.

“All the teams in the tournament are among the strongest from their represented countries so whoever we play will be really difficult,” he said.

“You look at how well Bayern have done this year, Rosengard have always been a strong outfit in the women’s game, so they’re going to be difficult games.

“It’ll be fascinating to see how each team translates into this form of the game, which players play and how they play together because it’s obviously only seven players and six outfield so it’ll be difficult.

“But I think there’ll be high scoring and high attacking games which for everyone watching is going to be really exciting.”

City at the World Sevens

The World Sevens tournament is available to watch live around the world on DAZN. For more information on how you can follow the action, click here.

We will also provide comprehensive coverage of the tournament on the official Man City app, with roundups available on each City fixture soon after the final whistle.

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Match galleries and, where available, post-match reaction can also be accessed soon after each fixture, with further content also posted across our social media channels.

Highlights and CITY+ full-match replays will also be available around the world within a few hours of the full-time whistle.

The official Man City app is also the best place to keep across City’s progress in the World Sevens, including our potential opponents and confirmed kick-off times as and when they’re finalised.