Lozenetz City arrived into Amsterdam riding the crest of a wave (and via a Bulgaria Air flight) fresh from success in the Manchester Fives only 7 days earlier. Their opponents in the first game of Group B would be Kings Old Boys from England . Both teams had competed in the 2009 Barca Fives with Lozenetz City reaching the Cup Semi-Finals and Kings Old Boys the Plate Semi-Finals.

This game proved incredibly tight and, with due respect to Kings Old Boys, probably tighter than you would imagine based on previous appearances in eurofootballfives competition. The game remained at 0-0 for long periods and in the final quarter of the game was a controversial penalty which swung the game in the Bulgarians favour. There was a foul (which no-one denies) just outside the penalty area but the referee pointed to the spot. Atanas Minev stepped up to the plate and slotted home the penalty to put his side 1-0 up. As Kings Old Boys chased the game Minev made it 2-0 and with it took all 3 points. Minev scored 3 goals in Manchester last weekend and he was well on the way to equaling and potentially surpassing that tally already.

It was tough luck for Kings Old Boys who battled valiantly and, referee decision apart, may well have secured a draw against their illustrious opponents. However, if they continued to play like this they would do just fine in Group B.

Next up was Bosco versus RFM in what was due to be a Dutch derby. Sadly for the tournament though, Bosco failed to show and we were denied the chance of seeing them in action. RFM would earn three easy points and have some extra time to prepare for their first on-field challenge.

Crouch End Rangers were making their eurofootballfives debut with a mixture of English and local Dutch talent in a bi-national squad. They were up against a multinational team in Dutch side Wilhelmus B who featured a whole host of nationalities in their line-up. In this most cosmopolitan of ties it was the team from The Hague who scored the only goal of the game to claim all 3 points and make the perfect start. Wilhelmus B had Vadim Kisselev to thank as scorer of the crucial goal.