With
their first games under their belts it was Round
2 for all the teams in Group A and time to settle
in to the tournament.
Water
Boy is our longest-serving Portuguese team. Their
first appearance, at the 2011 Algarve Open saw
them finish 2 nd in their group behind (now) 3
times eurofootballfives.com winners Athletico
Do Hollande. A 1-0 Cup Quarter-Final followed
before losing in the Semi-Finals 5-1 to Cheesecake
FC. In 2012, they proved just as strong winning
their group which featured 2011 Krakow Trophy
winners, Apsley House. In the Cup Quarter-Finals
they endured a tough 0-0 versus Parry St Germain
emerging victorious 3-2 on penalties. They then
went out in the Cup Semi-Finals again, 4-0 to
the eventual champions ManDem United. In 2013,
they had a less successful group phase coming
4th out of 6 teams but in the knock-out stages
found their form and went on to win the Plate
competition beating Dutch team United Colours
of Benetton 2-1 in the Final. The 2014 Algarve
Open was their most successful tournament to date
where they won Group A with 4 wins out of 5 before
going all the way to the Final which they lost
2-1 to Stand Cristina.
AFC
Shooters A had a much briefer eurofootballfives.com
CV with this being just their second fixture…………and
they were undefeated. The travelling team would
remain undefeated it what was very closely contested
encounter.
Half-time
came and went with the teams locked at 0-0. Full-time
came and went and the score was still 0-0. It
was a second successive draw for AFC Shooters
– a very solid start to the tournament. Water
Boy consolidated their position as early Group
A leaders.
Next
up on Pitch A was Galacticos versus Lacey Green
FC . Galacticos made their first eurofootballfives.com
appearance at the 2014 Algarve Open. They had
a group record of 2 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats
which saw them finish third and qualify for the
Plate competition. They were less successful in
the Semi-Finals as Far Out FC accounted for them,
2-0.
They
missed out in Round 1 so had one less game to
prove themselves in Group A than the other teams.
Lacey Green had begun the day with a 1-1 draw
in their opening fixture.
Lacey
Green played out their third consecutive drawn
half as they reached half-time 0-0. A third consecutive
drawn half became a fourth consecutive drawn half
and it was goal-less again as defences won the
day. Final score, 0-0.
To
complete Round 2 we had Club Tropicana Drinks
FC versus Kazakhstan FC. Club Tropicana Drinks
FC were making it a hat-trick of appearances today.
They debuted at the 2012 Valencia Fives where
they were unlucky to miss out on the Cup with
just 1 defeat and by goal difference to finish
3rd in their group. They then went all the way
to the Plate Final but had to settle for Runners-Up
medals as Deportivo defeated them to the title.
At
the 2013 Barcelona Fives they continued their
impressive on pitch performances as they won Group
B (ahead of eventual winners Los Swallacticos).
At the Quarter-Final stage they went down 2-0
to Melee FC (who also went on to reach the Cup
Final). Could it be 3 rd time lucky for Club Tropicana?
Club
Tropicana had already begun with 3 points to set
them on their way. Their opponents Kazakhstan
FC had slipped to a narrow 1-0 loss in Round 1.
We were yet to see a goal in Round 2 of Group
A and goals were conspicuous by their absence
in the first half as the two teams reached the
interval all square at 0-0.
In
the second half, the game was to bear witness
to a goal and when it arrived it came from Mick
Little whose goal claimed all 3 points for Kazakhstan
FC and earned them their first win of the day.
With
the other four teams all drawing the 3 points
for Kazakhstan FC was a huge boost for their chances
in Group A.
