Group B began with Mavericks from England taking on Depo Legends of Ireland. Depo Legends were one of two teams from Deportivo Dooradoyle in today's tournament.

Deportivo Dooradoyle had already played here in Portugal at the 2012 Algarve Open. They drew a tough group and finished 4th to make the Plate. Their day ended against French side CFC B at the Quarter-Final stage on this occasion. How would they fare 3 years on? They began against a team on debut.

Although on debut The Mavericks looked like they had been playing in our tournaments for year. They hit the ground running and drew first blood in this fixture as Stephen Powl set them on their own way. An own goal from Depo Legends didn't help their cause.

Could Depo Legends respond from this setback? It was an improved performance but they could not prevent Mavericks extending their lead to 3-0 as Mark Adamson completed the scoring.

It was a perfect start for the Mavericks in Europe!

Next up was Futeboladas of Portugal against Whiteley FC of England. Both teams had previous experience at the Algarve Open.

The Portuguese made their debut 12 months ago and it was good showing. 2 wins, 2 draws and just the 1 defeat in the group phase saw them complete a Portugal 1, 2, 3 in Group A. They finished 3rd and qualified for the Plate. In the Semi-Finals they drew 1-1 with 11 Esperancas Faz Clube but crashed out 2-1 on penalties.

Whiteley FC played here all the way back in the 2010 Algarve Open with 2 teams and had mixed results. Whiteley VII finished bottom of Group A whilst Whiteley FC won Group D. Whiteley VII contested the Wooden Spoon Final losing the game 4-1 and losing a player to a broken nose. The winning run of Whiteley FC ended in the Quarter-Finals to Water Boy, 3-0.

It was the Portuguese who struck the first blow as Miguel Pereira opened the scoring in the first half. After the break Pereira's second of the game doubled the lead before Jose Miguel rounded off a fine victory for Futeboladas.

Game 3 of Group B saw The Badgers taking on RC Lens. Both teams were representing England and both were on debut. With no previous history in our tournaments we looked forward to this game with relish to see how the teams would perform on the European stage.

The teams reached the interval with nothing between the two teams as The Badger's Michael Sim and RC Lens' Tommy Twelves both scored cancelled each other out, 1-1.

A debut win was the prize on offer if either team could forge victory in the second period. Cometh the hour, cometh the man and that man was Kieran Turner of RC Lens. His goal was the difference between the two teams as RC Lens ran out 2-1 victors.

It was a promising but ultimately fruitless start for The Badgers against a strong looking RC Lens team. There was certainly enough encouragement for the remaining games to come.