After months of anticipation, the most eagerly anticipated international football tournament this June began….the 2010 Algarve Open. Did someone mention South Africa ? Surely not.

It was Ireland 's Askeaton FC and England 's Burussia Forsyth who kicked us off. The first goal of the tournament came from Michael Sheahan to put the team from the Emerald Isle 1-0 up. One-nil became two-nil in the second half when Thomas Jennings doubled the lead. When the referee blew the final whistle it was Askeaton FC who started the tournament in style with 3 points. Burussia Forsyth had 3 more group games to find their feet.

In the second game of Group A, Pete's Pink Pirates FC of England came face-to-face with Portugal 's Olhanense. It was the local team who started the quicker. Pauleta gave his side a 1-0 lead before half-time and a 2-0 lead just after the break. Very Telmo then took over the goalscoring reigns with goals three and four to complete a 4-0 victory. Olhanense were runners-up in the Plate last year but on this result they would be optimistic of the Cup this time round.

Whiteley VII began their campaign against Burussia Forsyth. Burussia were looking to avenge opening game defeat and get their first points on the board. A task they accomplished with a slender 1-0 victory. Whiteley FC made the Cup Semi-Finals on their last eurofootballfives.com adventure in Amsterdam 2008. With two squads this year they would hope they had not divided their powers. Alternatively, you could say they had doubled their chances of glory. They still had three games to turn their group phase around.

Askeaton's FC second opponents were Pete's Pink Pirates. The Irish team continued their impressive start to this year's competition with another 2-0 victory. Michael Kett grabbed the opening goal followed by Thomas Jennings second goal in as many games. There was also a second clean sheet for goalkeeper Patrick Noonan. It was an improved performance from Pete's Pink Pirates although still with no success but they had endured a tough couple of fixtures and now had two more games which they really needed to win.