The 2014 Algarve Open was our ninth tournament in Portugal (8th Algarve / 1 Lisbon). With home wins in 2007 and 2008, it took Olympic Phil Babb to break Portuguese dominance in 2009 to take the coveted trophy home. In 2010 and 2011, Athletico Do Hollande flew in from Amsterdam to claim glory and become the first ever (and only) team to retain a eurofootballfives.com title. In the last 2 years it has been England taking glory from France as in 2012 ManDem United (Eng) overcame CFC (Fra) in the Cup Final. In 2013, FC Radbroke also defeated CFC to the coveted prize.

The first two challengers to get us underway in Group A on Pitch A this year would be Far Out FC (Eng) versus AC Richmond (Eng). Far Out FC played in last year's tournament as Bafta Boys. They won their group undefeated with 3 wins and 2 draws. They claimed a Golden Goal victory in the Cup Quarter-Finals against Ecclesfield Eagles before going out 1-0 to eventual winners FC Radbroke in the Semi-Finals. They also made an impressive debut in the 2012 Berlin Fives as they won their group with 4 wins and 1 draw. A win on penalties against 2007 Krakow Trophy champions, Northern Monkeys, followed in the Quarter-Finals before an exit on penalties to Shrewsbury Townsend in the Semi-Finals. They also boasted the tournament's top goalscorer Joe Bardwell who scored 14 goals on the day.

It was a daunting opening fixture for AC Richmond who were on debut so we would get our first look at them once the match got underway though. Far Out FC flew out the traps and AC Richmond soon found themselves 4-0 down by half-time. Two further second-half goals wrapped up a 6-0 victory for Far Out FC. Joe Bardwell claimed four goals and there was also strikes from Billy Quinn and Chris Ferguson.

Far Out FC had got off to the perfect start. AC Richmond would hope things would get easier and they had 4 more group games to make their mark in the tournament.

The final two teams in Group A were Futeboladas FC of Portugal and their fellow countrymen, Stand Cristina. Both teams were on debut so we can offer you little by way of a preview so we would just have to wait and see what they could produce on the pitch.

The first half showed us that both teams were strong defensively and both teams were evenly matched. We reached half-time and the scores were all level at 0-0. After the break, the game continued in the same fashion with defences on top and neither team able to make the breakthrough. In the end we ran out of team and finished at 0-0.

It was a solid point for both teams to start their campaign.