In 2010, Athletico Do Hollande flew in from Amsterdam to claim glory and they were impressive en route to glory winning 6 of their 7 fixtures. They were back 12 months on to defend their title as they bid to become the first team in eurofootballfives.com history (32 tournaments to date) to retain a trophy. They began their defence against debutants Aston Carter.

What a baptism of fire it was for Aston Carter as they could not have drawn a tougher first game in eurofootballfives competition. If they were hoping to catch Athletico Do Hollande off their guard in the first game it was not to be as the Dutch team proved just why they were 2010 champions. The Athletico strikeforce of Toufik Haddouchi and Jerrel Fraenk put their opponents to the sword. Haddouchi scored twice and Fraenk scored a hat-trick as the title defence began in style with a 5-0 win.

Aston Carter would hope things would get easier and they had 3 more group games to make their mark in the tournament.

Game 2 of Group A saw some familiar friends and faces in the form of FC Biermeisters and Pimp My Side FC. The FCB Helles squad won arguably the greatest ever Plate final at the 2010 Krakow Cup when they overcame a 3-0 deficit to make it 3-3 in the final minute and then take the trophy in Golden Goal extra-time. They had a tough opening fixture against Pimp My Side FC who reached the 2010 Krakow Trophy final but lost narrowly 1-0 to Hutnik. This built on an impressive debut in the 2009 Prague Masters where they finished with an unbeaten group record finishing 2nd behind the defending champions Goldsmith Williams before bowing out at the quarter-final stage to 3-time semi-finalists SK Zelenec. They were expected to be strong again this year.

Once the game got underway it was FCB Helles who drew first blood as German striker Florian Henning gave his team a vital 1-0 lead at half-time. With Pimp My Side's Cup experience behind them you could say a shock was on the cards although that would be to overplay it. Maybe, a surprise would be more fitting.

If it was to be considered a surprise then a surprise we got as FCB Helles ran out 2-1 winners at full-time. Florian Henning grabbed his second of the game whilst Rob Gilhespy claimed what was ultimately a consolation goal. It was a great start for the first of the FC Biermeisters teams and work to do for Pimp My Side but teams have recovered before from opening game defeat.

The final team to begin their Group A challenge was the local team Aguas Do Algarve and, like Aston Carter, they had a tough opening challenge against Athletico Do Hollande. Aguas Do Algarve were making their 2nd Algarve Open appearance after competing in the 2010 tournament under their Anglicized name of Water Boy. Last year they finished second in their group before reaching the Cup Semi-Finals. Their opponents in that Semi-Final were Athletico Do Hollande and they lost 1-0.

Could they do better this year? Well, it was another close game and the Dutch knew they were certainly in a contest. We reached the interval with no goals to tell you about and at 0-0 defences were on top. We did see a goal in the second half and it was the game's only goal. Just like that Semi-Final 12 months ago it was Athletico Do Hollande who scored it and it came from the boot of Jerrel Fraenk – his fourth goal in two games. Athletico Do Hollande's defence was going well with maximum points. Aguas Do Algarve must take encouragement from this performance.

In Game 4, Aston Carter and FCB Helles took to the field for the second time. Aston Carter were looking to bounce back from defeat whilst FCB Helles were looking to build on victory and join the Dutch team at the top of Group A. At half-time all was seemingly going well for the Biermeisters as they held a 3-1 advantage thanks to Allan Williams and two strikes from Florian Henning putting him on four for the day and an early contender for the golden boot award. Jimmy Russell's strike kept Aston Carter in the game.

In the second half Pete Muller made it 3-2 by sneaking in at the near post from a corner and chesting the ball into the back of the net in between three Biermeisters. The comeback was on but the referee's whistle for full time prevented them getting back on level terms and FCB Helles made it win number two. They had a healthy league placing of 2nd with Aston Carter needing to turn their fortunes around in their last two league games.

The next game was Pimp My Side versus Aguas Do Algarve as England met Portugal. Both teams were looking for their first points and, with FCB Helles and Athletico Do Hollande on 6 points already, both teams needed to find a win to keep their Cup hopes alive. A draw whilst not disastrous would not improve matters greatly.

At half-time we were level at 0-0 with two good defences and two good goalkeepers on display. There was not much between these two teams and in the end it was Aguas Do Algarve who emerged victorious by the most slender of margins. The Portuguese had narrowly lost a tight first match but they were on the winning side this time thanks to a Pedro Calumo goal that put them in 3rd and a strong finish to the group could still see them make the Cup. Pimp My Side had not been at their best compared to previous tournaments but had still competed well losing by the odd goal on each occasion. It looked like they were not too far away from finding their true form.