2017 Amsterdam Fives 5-a-side Football Tournament Tour Report Plate Semi Finals

Results

SC Sylt (Ger)	0*	V	0	Naranjitos (Spa)
Shaolin Soccer (Hol)	1	V	5	FC Potsdam (Eng)
* SC Sylt (Ger) won 3-2 on penalties.

We were down to our final 4 teams in the Plate competition with 4 different nations still represented. England, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain were still in the hunt for glory.

The first Semi-Final would see SC Sylt take on Naranjitos. It was Nuremberg versus Valencia at city level. In statistical terms, SC Sylt had enjoyed the better of the day so far with 4 wins from 6 games scoring 25 goals whilst conceding 18. Naranjitos had won 2, drawn 2, lost 2 with 18 goals scored and 16 conceded. In the Plate competition Naranjitos had plenty of experience – they had 3 previous appearances in our tournaments with 2 victories and a Semi-Final on their Curriculum Vitae. They were bidding for a third final in four attempts.

We had goals galore in the Quarter-Finals with an unbelievable 43 goals in 4 games. This game – 0. It was only the second 0-0 draw we'd have at the Amsterdam Fives since we moved to this venue last year. That's 2 x 0-0 draws in 97 matches. We applaud both goalkeepers and both defences for a great effort. So, we would need a penalty shoot-out to decide who would progress to the Plate Final.

Naranjitos had been involved in one penalty shoot-out in our tournaments before and it was an unsuccessful one. They lost 3-2 to Drunk Perfect (Spa) in the 2015 Barcelona Fives Plate Semi-Final. Could they fare better here?

SC Sylt were up first. Marvin Gunther powered his penalty down the middle for 1-0. Javier Sanchez Flores then levelled at 1-1 putting it to the goalkeeper's right. Christian Heinl scored by putting his kick in the right hand corner. David Moya Aparicio then fired his penalty in off the post for 2-2. Sebastian Krauss made it 3-2 striking to the bottom left corner. Luis Imbernon Bano then rolled it into the bottom corner for 3-3 – or so we thought. The referee ordered a re-take as it was more than one step. It was more a stutter in the run up than extra steps but it was a justified decision from the referee. Maybe the retake put Luis Imbernon Bano off his stride as he missed the second time around. SC Sylt went through on penalties.

The second Semi-Final was Shaolin Soccer versus FC Potsdam. We had Dutch success in the Plate this time last year and Shaolin Soccer were the home nation's last hopes of keeping the Plate title on home soil (or 3G to be precise).

They were up against an FC Potsdam team who had unfinished business at Plate level after finishing runners-up in the Plate at the 2016 Prague Tournament. At Plate Semi-Final level they had a record of won 1, lost 1 as they went out of the 2015 Barcelona Fives to Drunk Perfect (Spa) but they beat CIS Committee Juniors (Blr) in Prague 2016.

This turned out to be a cracking game and the first half in particular was a very close contest. It was FC Potsdam who lead at the change of ends, 2-1. Bizarrely in an England v Holland game it was the English team wearing orange and it was the men in orange who opened up a cushion in the second half. 2-1 became 3-1 which became 4-1 and the game was over by that stage (also a nice similarity with the score in Euro '96). FC Potsdam went one better though to make it 5-1 and put the proverbial icing on the cake

Shaolin Soccer's goal was claimed by Guus Ter Stege but sadly for him and his team it would be Shaolin Soccer's last goal of the tournament.

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