Results
 

Vieze Vu (Hol)

5

V

4

ZVC Indoor Gent (Bel)

Hamid Hammers (Sco)

2

v

2*

FC Tiote (Eng)

BSP FC (Eng)

7

v

3

Ian Todd FC (Eng)

JK Silvertown (Eng)

2

V

0

Club Atlantico Nationale (Eng)

* FC Tiote won 3-2 on penalties.
 

As the 2017 Amsterdam Fives Cup Quarter-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament with Belgium, England, the Netherlands and Scotland still in contention.

We started on Pitch A with Vieze Vu versus ZVC Indoor Gent. Usually this top Quarter-Final is the most straight-forward as it is a group winner versus a team who finished third in their group. Usually the home team wins through without too much trouble. However, the build-up looked completely different. Look at the two teams group records:

Vieze Vu: Won 3, Drawn 2, Lost 0. Points 11. For 21, Against 11.

ZVC Indoor Gent: Won 4, Drawn 0, Lost 1. Points 12. For 15. Against 10.

As you can see the team who finished in third had a higher points tally than the Group A winners. This is the first time this has ever happened in our 18 team tournaments. This is also a joint equal high points tally for a team finishing third in our tournaments. Cudny Jozef (Pol) also finished with 12 at the 2016 Krakow Trophy.

What this all pointed to was a Quarter-Final of epic proportions and it didn't disappoint. The two teams played out a thrilling contest with the teams level at the break at half-time, 2-2. The second half was equally close with Vieze Vu just edging it 5-4 at the full-time whistle.

Vieze Vu were still involved both the Fives and the Sixes (as Toros) so they were showing superb feats of endurance. Tim Van Gelder scored a hat-trick for them in this game and we was ably assisted by a goal each from Jon van Hoften and Gijs Kok.

There was also a hat-trick for Michael Ingels of ZVC Indoor Gent who ended the tournament on 9 goals. Robin Bogaert was also on the mark for the Belgians. It was tournament over for ZVC Indoor Gent who had put in a very strong performance and we hope they'll be back for another crack at a title.

 
 
 

So, who would meet Vieze Vu in the Semi-Final? It was Hamid Hammers against FC Tiote. Hamid Hammers had been dominant in the group stage this morning scoring 21 goals as they boasted the tournament's only 100% record. Before the tournament began we were unable to pick who the favourites were but if you asked us now then Hamid Hammers would surely be where the smart money was going.

The stats really piled up for the Scottish team – they had the best goal difference of all the teams at the end of the group phase. In fact, it was the second best ever at this venue and only 1 behind last year's champions Benecke (+20). They had only conceded twice in a tournament that averaged 5.61 goals per game. This was the second best defence in a group phase at this venue after Spain United went through the group last year without conceding at all.

FC Tiote faced a pretty daunting task to make it to the next round but they had enjoyed a pretty good morning themselves. They had 3 wins from their first 3 games before a little dip in results at the end of the group phase. Maybe the lunch break came at the right time for them, could they recapture their early morning form?

The game ended 2-2 with Hamid Hammers paying particular respect to their opposition goalkeeper, Ben Martin, who had a cracker of a game. He was still to play a big part in this Quarter-Final. The goalscorers incidentally were Nick Ghamgosar (Hamid Hammers) and Lewis Trevor (FC Tiote) – both scored twice.

We would need penalties to decide this one – the first penalty shoot-out of the day. FC Tiote would strike first with Lewis Trevor converting. We then had some quality penalty taking as Nick Ghamgosar equalized for 1-1. Karl Shaw put FC Tiote 2-1 up before Ruaraidh Scott levelled at 2-2. Alex Earle then put FC Tiote 3-2 up and it was over to Floris Kouijzer to potentially take us to sudden death. Ben Martin, in goal for FC Tiote, became the hero as he saved the final penalty and sent his team through to the Semi-Finals.

Hamid Hammers were out but they could be proud of their performance today. They left the tournament unbeaten and with the best defence. Their record of conceding just 0.67 goals per game is the best ever at this venue and Murray Scott is the only goalkeeper to keep that figure below 1 goal per game. By the end of the day they would end up with the second best goal difference of the tournament and the third best ever. Only the 2016 and 2017 champions would have better. We mentioned before that we had not had a Scottish winner at our tournaments since 2008. If Hamid Hammers return to our tournaments they could well end that barren run for Scotland.
 
 
 

Quarter-Final three was BSP FC versus Ian Todd FC. This promised to be the closest Quarter-Final tie yet as it was the winners of Group C versus the 2 nd team in Group B.

BSP FC had qualified for the Cup in sensational style – they were one of three teams to finish on 12 points in Group C but they topped the table courtesy of goal difference. A last game win against the previous league leaders saw them climb from third to first. Defences watch out – they were the top scoring team in the group phase with 24 goals. They also had the third best defence at the end of the group phase and second best goal difference. Weaknesses were hard to spot.

That was the size of the task facing Ian Todd FC who began the day well with a 100% record after the first couple of rounds. They then lost their last couple of group games. In fact, their group phase was similar to FC Tiote in the game above and we've just seen how they held Hamid Hammers to a draw and then win on penalties. This may well be Ian Todd FC's most likely route to the Semi-Final.

With the match underway though, Ian Todd FC were unable to stem the flow of goals. BSP FC hit Ian Todd FC with wave after wave of attack. BSP FC raced to a 5-0 lead by half-time and they had one foot in the next round. After the break Ian Todd FC had the better of it, edging the half 3-2 but the damage had already been done in that opening period. Final score, 7-3 to BSP FC.

Alexander Richardson and Kyle McLellan were the chief architects of the win in terms of putting the ball in the onion bag. Richardson scored 3 and McLellan 4 as they took their tournament tallies to 15 and 10 respectively.

Alex Howes of Ian Todd FC was also riding high in the goal-scoring stakes – he scored his third hat-trick of the tournament to take him to 12 for the day. Unfortunately for him, and he was team, he would not get the chance to add to his tally.

 
 
 

The final Quarter-Final was JK Silvertown versus Club Atlantico Nationale. Both teams were on debut in our tournaments and could be rightly proud of their efforts to date. They were both breaking new ground as they qualified for the Cup.

It was a battle between the Runners-Up from Group A and Group C respectively so the two teams should have been well matched and they proved to be so. We reached half-time with both defences on top. In the context of a high-scoring tournament this game was relatively short on goals but high on quality. JK Silvertown managed to forge ahead and through Adem Hassan. It was his first goal of the tournament and what a time to get it!

So, we kicked off the second half with JK Silvertown in the ascendency. Could Club Atlantico Nationale respond? If they were to comeback it would have to be a stunning comeback. 1-0 became 2-0 when Shane Batterbee doubled the lead and effectively sealed his team's participation in the Semi-Finals. Those two goals combined with Darren Butler's second clean sheet in 3 games meant JK Silvertown would progress.

There was no way back for Club Atlantico Nationale – thank you to them for participating but for now we had to bid them farewell.

 
 
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