FOR any Manchester United fan, taking on Eric Cantona in a football match is the stuff of which dreams are made.
But 24-year-old Daniel Farry's dream is set to become reality this weekend.
He won't be facing the great Frenchman on a traditional football pitch, but across Brighton beach, with the Palace Pier in the background and the English Channel for a backdrop.
Midfielder Farry, from Winchester Road, Southampton is amazingly one of THREE Hampshire and Isle of Wight beach footballers in the England team led by John Scales which contests the Kronenbourg Cup tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday.
They will take on Cantona's France, Italy and favourites Portugal.
The other south coast players are strikers TD Al Said from Shanklin and GC Giancovich from Ventnor. All have only taken up the sport in the past two years after just missing out on becoming professional footballers.
Farry said: "It should be great. It's a new sport which I got into it after watching some matches and then getting trials after speaking to the organisers.
"They were mostly using ex-pro footballers, but the team is now mostly made up of people more geared towards beach football.
"It is a lot different and you have to adapt quite a lot. The Spanish and the Portugese probably lead the way.
"The profile of the sport is definitely getting bigger in this country all the time and the standards are improving, but it's still early days compared to some of the European countries who have been playing for years."
He added: "The Spanish and Portugese train probably twice a week whereas most of the lads for us have jobs and only get together before the tournaments.
"It is usually played in very hot conditions, so you tend to play three or four minutes at a time and then take a rest.
"The sand is quite deep, so it's hard to run and very difficult to dribble. Basically you have to keep the ball moving and get it up in the air. It is a very exciting game and is often played in fits and starts. Nothing much is happening and then suddenly there can be a burst of action. A lot of the goals are overhead kicks or scissor-kicks, so it can be quite spectacular.
"If you get fouled you have a free-shot from anywhere on the pitch, so the game is very much about goals. I've never seen a nil-nil draw."
The rise of beach football in the south is largely due to a thriving scene on the Isle of Wight, with Al Said and Giancovich very much at the forefront.
Al Said, 19, was first noticed by England after top-scoring in a competition on the Island involving 46 teams.
In the space of just a year, he has played in Turkey, Austria, France, Portugal - and met Cantona on several occasions.
He said: "It's just been fantastic. It was quality to meet Eric Cantona and play against him. We stayed in the same hotel and had dinner with him and he is a really nice bloke.
"Beach football is a totally different sport. You need a high level of skill and it is quite physical."
Giancovich, who works as a chef, broke into the England team this year and top-scored in a recent competition with Portugal and Spain.
He said: "The England team has improved loads and we only just lost to Portugal.
"I got into it last year playing on the Isle of Wight. We had an Island team that actually beat England on penalties in a competition and they picked some of us for the team. We have been practising hard and we are all just looking forward to the weekend now."
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