2023 Amsterdam Fives 5-a-side Football Tournament Tour Report Group A Round 1

Results

BK Manskomplex (Swe)	1	V	5	Foot 130 (Fra)
Slugs FC (Eng)	1	V	3	The Zlatan Show (Ned)
Ball Sports Reds (Eng)	1	V	0	Elstead Blue (Eng)

We wish you a warm welcome to the Netherlands and the thirteenth edition of the Amsterdam Fives since our debut in Amsterdam back in July 2008.

This tournament was a hugely successful one for English teams with victories from 2008-2011. Since then, we had a period of Dutch success from 2012-2016. England returned to winning ways with BSP FC (2017), Melee FC (2018) and Epsilon Rovers (2019). FC Kicks of the Netherlands won here last year but who would be holding the coveted trophy aloft at around 17.00 this afternoon?

The first two challengers to get us underway in Group A on Pitch 1 this year would be BK Manskomplex (Swe) versus Foot 130 (Fra). Teams from France and Sweden hoping to break the English & Dutch domination of this event.

It turned out to be a great start for the French team as they raced into a 3-0 half-time lead. Antoine Botrel got them off to a flyer with a brace before Boris Laguerre opened his personal account. BK Manskomplex started the second half well with a goal from Shawn Reddy but Natan De Carriere restored the three goal advantage for Foot130 and then completed the scoring to make it 5-1.

The first phase of the 2023 Amsterdam Fives would be decided upon a group basis. There was scheduled to be two groups with 6 teams in each group. The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in each group would progress to the Cup competition. This would be played as a knock-out phase with Semi-Finals and Final. The teams finishing 3rd and 4th in each group would progress to the Plate competition. This would be played as a knock-out phase with Semi-Finals and Final. The teams finishing 5 th and 6 th in each group would be eliminated at this stage.

Game 2 of Group A was Slugs FC (Eng) versus The Zlatan Show (Ned).

In a thrilling encounter it was the latter who emerged victorious with a 3-1 win. The Zlatan Show drew first blood when Rodri Represa found the back of the net in the early stages of the game. However, Slugs FC quickly regrouped and their efforts paid off when Adam Parsons levelled the score at 1-1. As the second half commenced, The Zlatan Show came out with a renewed determination to claim victory and they did with a double from Leonard Maximilian Cebulla.

The next two teams to take the field in Group A were Ball Sports Reds (Eng) and Elstead Blue (Eng). Elstead played here 12 months ago at the 2022 Amsterdam Fives. They made a solid start with a 2-2 draw against Amsterdam Barbarians. They then suffered a couple of defeats (3-1 and 3-0) to Atletico Armada and Groove Armada before getting their first win on the board. It was a 4-1 win over Minisernal. They finished their group stage campaign with a 3-2 victory over Spider Mans & Eagle. They finished fourth and qualified for the Plate competition. A third successive win saw them despatch Red Cow Belgrade (3-2) in the Semi-Finals. Their winning run came to an end in the Plate Final but they secured a 1-1 draw against Columbia's Finest FC to take the game to a penalty shootout. They emerged victorious 3-1 on spot kicks to take home the trophy.

They came into this game on a 4-match unbeaten run in Amsterdam but found themselves a goal down early on thanks to a Connor Swingler goal. That goal was good enough to see Ball Sports Reds 1-0 up at the break. Elstead Blue were determined to make a comeback in the second half but despite their best efforts the Ball Sports Reds defence held firm. In the end, neither team managed to find the back of the net in the second half, and the match concluded with Ball Sports emerging as 1-0 victors.

Table

Team	Pld	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Agst	Pts
Foot 130 (Fra)	1	1	0	0	5	1	3
The Zlatan Show (Ned)	1	1	0	0	3	1	3
Ball Sports Reds (Eng)	1	1	0	0	1	0	3
Elstead Blue (Eng)	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
Slugs FC (Eng)	1	0	0	1	1	3	0
BK Manskomplex (Swe)	1	0	0	1	1	5	0

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