Being scheduled on for the first game of the day after a night on the tiles could be described as rude awakening. Arguably it was a Ruud awakening for The Ruud Boys when they kicked off Group A against the Shooting Shamrocks of Ireland.

The Shooting Shamrocks got off to a flying start taking the lead through Jordan Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald made it 2-0 at half-time and the Irish were in a solid position. The second half continued in the same vein and Fitzgerald went on to complete his hat-trick, a 3-0 win for the Shamrocks and their first 3 points of the day.

Next up was CSF Porto against Olhanense FC. The CSF were making their 5th eurofootballfives.com appearance but their debut in the Algarve . They had a tough fixture against Olhanense of Portugal. The Portuguese side contained a couple of the players that played for the ‘Chelsea' team in last year's 2008 Premiership In… Portugal who finished runners-up. Both teams fought hard and there was nothing to separate these teams. The game finished 0-0 and both sides picked up a solid point to begin their campaign.

The last team to get up and running in Group A were the Northern Monkeys. The Northern Monkeys were veterens of the Krakow Trophy with a win under their belt in 2007 and a Quarter-Final in 2008. How would they fare in the sun of Portugal? Not too badly were the early indications. They faced the Ruud Boys and although they could not break the stalemate in the first-half, two second half goals from Al Jamieson sealed the destination of the 3 points as they ran out 2-0 winners. The goals were Jamieson's 10th and 11th in eurofootballfives.com competition and he was potentially one to watch for the top goalscorer prize.

Game 4 saw the Shooting Shamrocks looking to make it two wins out of two whilst CSF Porto were looking to build on their opening draw. The game was another tight fight and when the game reached half-time the two teams were still locked at 0-0. Three goal-less halves for the CSF but it would not be 4 and sadly for them it was not in their favour. Hugh O'Donnell's strike ensured a 1-0 win for the Shooting Shamrocks and guarantee that the Irish would sit pretty on the top of Group A at the half-way stage.

Before we got to the half-way stage though we still had the Northern Monkeys v Olhanense fixture to look forward to. Once again there was very little to separate the two teams and Group A was proving to be a very tight league.

Goals had so far been at a premium in this league and they were to be elusive in this game too. With defences and goalkeepers on top the referee drew the curtain on this game at full-time with the score 0-0. Olhanense's second consecutive goalless draw.