Best football squad at the Olympiad?

Like chess, football transcends boundaries, played all over the world bringing people together for the love of the game. The 45th chess Olympiad takes place in Budapest, Hungary starting September 10th and I've been selected again to represent Wales. It is an honour and a privilege to play and while this post takes a different outlook, preparing for this event is my highest priority.

You can check out the team lists here: https://chess-results.com/tnr967173.aspx?lan=1&art=8&turdet=YES&flag=30
We are currently ranked 77th which might change slightly but it's still one of our highest in years.

The Olympiad presents a fantastic opportunity to play a wide variety of opposition and meet new people. Regardless of your chess ability it could just be your skills with a ball that changes your outlook on the day, a welcome distraction from an extremely pressurised environment! Getting to mix with different cultures regardless of language or rating and making new friends in the process. But let's be honest, there is nothing quite like country on country rivalry.

So why the blog post? Well treat this as an open invitation to all countries to come and play against us.

If you read the detail for the Olympiad you will see that there is already a planned football match on the rest day. It's great that they are putting it on as well as city tours and the Bermuda party the night before. I have no idea of the format for the football though, sometimes these things can be a little bit awkward to sort out from their point of view. All's I know is we have a team of 6 ready to go and wanting to play together. If we have to organise our own games, we will.

So why do us Welsh have a strong squad this year? Well the first reason is we have no weak links, lets run through the team...

Brothers at arms - Jose & Marcos Camacho Collados - born in Spain... enough said.
Baby of the squad - Daniel Kozusek, possible our fittest player
Tactical master - Alex Bullen, not only can this guy run for days he also has a degree in football management!
Oldest player - Grzeg Toczek - this 50+ year old played regularly for a local team, I wouldn't want to be in a 50/50 with him.
Myself - Jonathan Blackburn - not as fit as I once was but I've played football nearly every week for 30 years.
Fun team reveal video: https://youtu.be/lyeIuebK5jg?si=Q2YK0owW9Fxn94wI

None of us are regular club players or former academy trainee's, but we have 6 players ready to put it all on the line. I'm sure there are going to be other countries who can field a decent team...or think they can, we just have to find out who they are.

How does your nation compare?
Going to the event and think you can form a team to play against us? - get in touch

While we have no idea what the playing surface might be? can we rent out some 5 a side pitch? Is the rest day football going to be good or not? - What I do know is, my shin pads are getting packed.