2019 Alicante Tournament 5-a-side Football Tour Report Cup Semi Finals

Results

Galacticos (Eng)	1	V	0	Elysian FC (Eng)
Panadero Loco Sport (Spa)	0	v	1	Atletico San Bas (Spa)

We were at the 2019 Alicante Tournament Cup Semi-Final stage and from 18 teams who started the day we were down to the final 4. The only thing guaranteed at this stage was that we would have an England v Spain Cup Final. We had two English teams in the 1st Semi-Final and two Spanish teams in the 2nd Semi-Final.

Up first was Galacticos versus Elysian FC – two teams who knew each other from the UK. Galacticos had the experience in our tournaments. This was their fourth Cup Semi-Final as they hunted down their maiden eurofootballfives.com title.

They lost their first Cup Semi-Final to 2x eurofootballfives.com winners Goldsmith Williams all the way back at the 2009 Barcelona Fives. Since then they had a 3-0 win over Samurai Japan at the 2010 Valencia Fives and a 4-1 win over Wessex FC at the 2018 Lisbon Tournament last year. Could it be three successive Cup Semi-Final wins? Things were looking good as Galacticos were now 5 games unbeaten today.

Elysian FC's results had been a bit more up and down today. They had gone Win-Loss-Win-Draw-Win-Draw and so were 4 games unbeaten themselves. This promised to be an entertaining and close game.

Ultimately just the one goal would decide this game. The goal went to Mo Hafesji of Galacticos. His goal would earn them a third eurofootballfives.com Cup Final. We also make special acknowledgement to Shanwaz Pathan in goal for Galacticos. Since his team lost 3-1 in the opener he had now kept 6 clean sheets in a row.

It was a great debut for Elysian FC – more to come from them in the future we feel.

So, who would take their place in the Final from the second Semi-Final? The two teams set to do battle were Panadero Loco Sport against Atletico San Bas.

In Cup Semi-Finals we often get cagey low-scoring and evenly-contested matches. The first Semi-Final on pitch A was typical of this and this game proved no different.

Panadero Loco Sport were unbeaten today with 4 wins and 2 draws.

Atletico San Bas were even better with a 10% record, 6 wins out of 6.

Atletico San Bas were looking invincible. They had scored 17 goals and were yet to concede. Ordinarily Panadero Loco Sport's record of 13 goals scored and 2 conceded would be excellent but it was second best in this match up.

However, the two teams could not be separated in a very even first half. The two teams reached the break level at 0-0. As with the first Semi-Final, just one goal would divide the two teams. That goal went to Gilen Arrieta Caleada and was his sixth of the tournament.

For today, Panadero Loco Sport's day was over. We will return to Alicante in 2020 and we hope to see them again to give the tournament another try.

Open Age