The Cup Quarter-Finals saw the elite 8 teams of the 20 team draw come head to head to see which team would emerge as 2012 Algarve Open champions. We had 4 nations still with a chance of grabbing glory so would it be England, France, Hungary or Portugal celebrating at 5pm this evening?

The first Quarter-Final saw the French team in the draw and Group A champions, CFC A, meet England's FC Melts. CFC A had been impressive thus far in winning their Group and had a chance to put memories of the Cup Quarter-Finals of the 2011 Budapest Fives behind them – when both their teams lost at this stage. FC Melts were from the Bridge House stable and they had similar feelings of the 2010 Valencia Fives when both their teams also went out at this stage. So, the winners of this tie would see their clubs best ever run in a eurofootballfives.com tournament.

It was advantage CFC A early on when March Hochar put the team from Paris ahead. It was an impressive 7th goal of the day for Hochar and he was currently leading the top goalscorer charts. The onus was on FC Melts to comeback and come half-time they were unable to break through. The pattern continued in the second half and ultimately Hochar's goal proved to be the winner and the French were through to the Semi-Finals 1-0.

It was farewell to the Bridge House lads in footballing terms for the day and we looked forward to sharing some beers at the post-tournament social later on.

Cup Quarter-Final 2 saw FC Miracle in action against Olhanense in a Hungary versus Portugal tie. FC Miracle were on the Cup Final trail again having debuted in the 2011 Barca Fives where they ultimately finished 2 nd . On that occasion they secured a 2-0 win at this stage over Japanese side Samurai Japan. They had been in fine form today winning their group with a 100% record – 4 wins out of 4.

FC Miracle would start as favourites against an Olhanense side who whilst performing well had 7 points out of 12. They had reached this stage once before when they came undone 6-0 by Athletico Do Hollande.

It was looking like a familiar sinking feeling for the Portuguese in the Cup Quarter-Finals as FC Miracle quickly established a 2-0 lead through Zoltan Kedves. The Hungarians looked like it would be them meeting CFC A in the Semi-Finals and that was sealed when Laszlo Zsolt's strike put them 3-0 up.

It was the end of the day for Olhanense but we hope to see them again take up the Algarve Open challenge in 2013.

Olhanense's demise above meant that Water Boy were the sole survivors for Portugal in the Cup draw and home hopes rested with them. Their opposition would be Parry St Germain. The two teams were no strangers to Cup Quarter-Finals.

Water Boy had a 100% record at this stage (3-0 Whiteley FC in 2010 and 1-0 Redhill Rovers in 2011). Parry St Germain had a won 1, lost 1 record winning 2-1 (as We Are Messi) in the 2007 Prague Trophy and losing a 12-goal extravaganza 8-4 to Spain's Equipo A (as Preston OAPs) in Barcelona last year.

The team's had similar group records with Water Boy securing 10 points and Parry St Germain bagging 9 points. There was little to choose between the two games going into the game and little to choose between the two teams at the end of the game as we finished 0-0 at half-time, 0-0 at full-time and 0-0 after Golden Goal extra time.

So, we had a penalty shoot-out with England versus Portugal…if we remember Euro 2004 (Portugal won 6-5 on pens) and World Cup 2006 (Portugal won 3-1 on pens) surely there could only be one result here?

It was Water Boy to go first who went 1-0 up but Parry St Germain quickly leveled. Water Boy then missed and Parry St Germain took full advantage to go 2-1 up. Water Boy evened things up at 2-2 and so it was over to Parry St Germain to seal their Semi-Final place. A mixture of Jorge Matias in the Water Boy goal and the cross bar saved the day for Water Boy and kept them in the tournament. Water Boy then converted for a 3-2 lead before Parry St Germain dragged their fourth penalty wide and Portugal had defeated England on penalties again…..hopefully not an omen for Euro 2012!

After all the drama with the penalties on Pitch C, we turned to Pitch D for the result of ManDem United versus FC Hollywood. Both teams were making their eurofootballfives.com debut so we only had today's performances to draw on in assessing who would make it through to the Semi-Finals. ManDem United had a 100% record with 4 wins out of 4 but FC Hollywood were looking good as well. They lost their first game but had since won 3 consecutive games.

So far we had seen all three group winners go through to the Semi-Finals and ManDem United were hoping to make that a full house. It certainly looked good for them when they led 2-0 at the break. In the second half FC Hollywood fought back and became the first team to breach the ManDem United defence not once but twice through Terence Lowe and James Staroszczuk. ManDem United were a classy outfit though and bagged two second half goals of their own to secure a 4-2 victory.

The ManDem goalscorers were Andre Rodrigues Da Costa (2), Robert Ursell and Anthony Thomas. The goals were being shared around this squad and with weapons from all over the pitch the last remaining English team were looking good.

It was farewell to FC Hollywood who have already indicated an interest in the 2012 Valencia Fives who we are sure will do well. We look forward to seeing them then.