The afternoon knock-out phase of the 2016 Amsterdam Fives began with the Plate Quarter-Finals. There would be just 3 Quarter-Finals as, in a tournament of 15 teams, we had 7 teams qualifying for the Plate. It meant, Team Koopman, as the only third placed team in the Plate competition would earn a bye to the Semi-Finals. That left us with 6 teams battling it out to join them.

First up on the pitch was Indonesia FC versus We Pay People on Pitch A. Pitch A had been home to Indonesia FC during the group phase but it had not been an overly happy home as they finished 5th in Group A. They would meet the 4th placed team in Group B, We Pay People.   

Both teams collected 3 points from their group campaign. Indonesia FC had outscored their opponents this morning 9 to 6 but We Pay People had the better defence with 10 goals conceded compared to Indonesia FC's 19. This game was to be a low-scoring one which you would think may favour We Pay People but that was not to be the case as it was Indonesia FC who went through by a solitary goal, 1-0. The goal was scored just before half-time by Mark Hann – his fifth of the tournament. The assist came from Maarten Fernandes.

The second quarter-final was to be The Rain Dragons versus Mixed Up as 5th from Group B entertained 4th from Group C.

The Rain Dragons had qualified for the Cup competition in 2014 with both their teams (Big Dogs and Damn Big Dogs) but both teams exited at the Quarter-Final stage. At the curtailed 2015 tournament they were heading to the Cup competition before Storm Zejko put the mockers on things. Today, they had a reduced squad and had struggled a little in the group phase and entered the Plate competition for the first time.

The Rain Dragons finished the group stage with just four fit players so we organized an emergency loan to get them back to the full complement of 5 – they took on board Mitchell Piggon. His first goal for The Rain Dragons ensured they would have a 2-1 lead at half-time in this Quarter-Final. He added to Will Watkins goal which gave them the edge following #4's goal for Mixed Up.

The second half kicked off at 2-1 to The Rain Dragons and ended 5-2. Mitchell Piggon went on to complete his hat-trick and there was a second tournament goal for Haydn Gush. Mixed Up #4 grabbed a second of the game and his fifth of the tournament but it would be his team's last as they were eliminated.

The final Semi-Final berth would be contested by Binham FC and Wizards of WhatsApp. Binham FC had struggled this morning but the beauty of these tournaments is that everyone has a chance to wipe the slate clean at the lunch break and start afresh going into the knock-out phase.

Wizards of WhatsApp had started the day well with a 4-3 win over Team Koopman but since then had seen results tail-off with a 5-4 defeat to Indonesia FC, a 5-3 defeat to Paralytic Athletic and a 5-1 defeat to Real BUILDers. They needed to arrest this slide in form to progress in the tournament.

What resulted was an outstanding encounter with 14 goals to savour. It was 5-2 to Wizards of WhatsApp at half-time and 8-6 at full-time. Binham FC had more than doubled their tournament tally in one game with a hat-trick from each of Anthony Siswick and Matt Beck. For Wizards of WhatsApp there was a 5-goal haul for Charlie Barth plus a strike for each of Bas, Francis Plunkett and Paul Pelzl.

For Binham FC the tournament was over and it had been a joy to host the lads at the 2016 Amsterdam Fives. They have asserted an interest in joining us at the 2017 Budapest Fives and we very much look forward to meeting them then if they can make it.