Results
 

Red Star (Por)

1*

V

1

Water Boy (Por)

Mini FC (Por)

2

v

0

Parkwood B (Eng)

* Red Star (Por) won 3-2 on penalties.
 

We were at the 2019 Algarve Open Tournament Cup Semi-Final stage and from the 24 teams who signed we were down to the final 4 – already an achievement for those who were still in the hunt for glory. The first Cup Semi-Final would see Red Star versus Water Boy. Portugal were guaranteed at least one team in the Cup Final.

Water Boy were on a great run with 4 wins and 2 draws from their 6 matches today. This was their fourth Cup Semi-Final in 9 years and they were bidding to reach a second eurofootballfives.com Cup Final (to go with the 3x Plate Finals). They had a tricky task on their hands though as Red Star had been very good on debut today.

Red Star had lost 2 of their first 3 games but since then had put together a run of 3 successive victories. There was an eye catching win against ACD.Sta.C.a.Nova in the last round who were unbeaten.

The two teams looked to be evenly matched and they played out a 1-1 draw. Dino's goal for Red Star cancelled out Rafa's fourth goal of the day for Water Boy. We would need a penalty shoot-out to settle this tie.

Water Boy probably would not mind as they had already won a penalty shoot-out today beating The Funky Shepherds 3-1 in the Quarter-Finals. In 8 previous tournaments, Water Boy had only been involved in 2 penalty shoot-outs in our tournament. They had now been involved in 2 in 2 matches.

This one did not go their way though. Rafa scored the winning penalty against The Funky Shepherds and the goal in normal time versus Red Star. He missed his team's third penalty here though and they were out 3-2 in the shoot-out.

 
 
 

So, who would take their place in the Final from the second Semi-Final? The two teams set to do battle were Mini FC against Parkwood B.

Mini FC were gunning for a third title and their first in the Open Age section. They had gone a little bit under the radar today by finishing second in Group A but they gained everyone's attention with a sensational 3-0 win over Hellgarve Kraken's in the last round (Hellgarve had a 100% record up until then).

Parkwood B were on debut and were the last surviving English team in the Cup competition. They were the most successful of the travelling teams today but that would be a mere statistic if they did not go on and win the title. Parkwood B were up for it.

This game proved to be one of the feistiest of the day. As we got to the business end of the tournament the games mattered more and you could feel the tension in this one. The crowds assembled by Pitch B as this was the game to watch.

It was first blood to Mini Fc who lead in the first half with Joao Simoes scoring his eighth goal of the day. An interesting sub-plot to this game was the golden boot award. He was now joint top with Keiran Humphreys of Parkwood B.

The second half basically saw Parkwood B lay siege to the Mini FC goal. Mini FC defended for their lives and tried to hit on the counter. Domingos in goal for Mini FC made some fine saves and there was blocks and last ditch tackles. The crowd were willing Parkwood B on to get an equalizer. In the final few seconds of the game Mini FC won a free-kick on the counter. Parkwood B had put so much into searching out the equalizer that they couldn't back to defend it properly as Joao Simoes scored direct from the free-kick for 2-0.

It was a brave effort from Parkwood B and no-one would have begrudged them an equalizer. It was a great game.

 
 
 
 
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