The 2013 Barcelona Fives was our 9th 5-a-side football tournament in this great city. It was our largest ever tournament with a line-up of 25 teams set to do battle. There were 11 teams returning to eurofootballfives.com action and 14 making a debut on our circuit.

We kicked off with two of those debutants as home team ADP Dream Team took on the travelling Melee FC of England.

Although ADP Dream Team were on debut, the team featured Gabriel Trepte who had played for United Colours of Benetton in our Algarve Open tournament back in May. He was a Plate Runner-Up on that occasion. It was far from a dream start for his Dream Team though as they were put to the sword by Melee FC.

There were goals from Chris Pilsbury, Kevin Webb and Jack Dell as the English team ran out victors. A great start for Melee FC.

Next up was Deportivo Dooradoyle of Ireland versus ADP Netherlands 1 – as the name suggests – from the Netherlands. Deportivo Dooradoyle made their debut at the 2011 Amsterdam Fives. They reached the Plate Quarter-Finals with success over Goals Aloud (Wal). In the Semi-Finals they were victorious 3-1 over CEPL of Holland before a narrow defeat in the final to Rigford Seahawks (also 2009 Krakow Trophy & 2012 Berlin Fives Cup winners and 2009 Prague Trophy Plate winners). In the 2012 Algarve Open they drew a tough group and finished 4 th to make the Plate again. Their day ended against French side CFC B at the Quarter-Final stage on this occasion.

How would ADP Netherlands 1 fare against them in their first eurofootballfives.com fixture?

Pretty well was the answer as they took a 1-0 lead into half-time thanks to Jan Van Rabenswaaij. After the break they eased away from their opponents with two goals from Mark Stoop and one each for Jeroen Quispel and Michael Nagelhout.

The final score was 5-0 and they joined Melee FC at the top of Group A.

The last team to get on the field in Group A was Shahs of Sunset. Shahs of Sunset made an impressive debut at the 2012 Valencia Fives. They topped their group and qualified for the Cup competition where they lost out to Mestallaban (Ire) on penalties in the Quarter-Finals. In the 2013 Budapest Fives they topped their 6-team group again without conceding a goal to qualify for the Cup. They went to penalties in the Cup Quarter-Finals again but this time won through. Their adventure ended in the Semi-Finals when they lost to the eventual champions, Team Bear, 1-0.

Their first opponents were ADP Dream Team who had struggled in their first game. It was going to be a tough ask to bounce back against strong opposition such as the Shahs in this game. There was just the one goal in the opening period which was claimed by Martin Weltman – appearing in his 5th tournament in 18 months.

In the second half Paul Lehair extended the lead to 2-0 and when Anders Schmachtenberg made it 3-0 there was no way back for ADP Dream Team. Final score, 3-0.

Game 4 saw Melee FC meet Deportivo Dooradoyle. It was a game between a 5-0 winner and a 5-0 loser from the opening round of fixtures so it would be fair to expect the first round winners, Melee FC, to make it two wins out of two.

Deportivo Dooradoyle were much improved and this was a much more even contest than many would have expected given earlier results. The first half was very close and the two teams could not be separated, 0-0.

After the break the game continued to be close and it remained 0-0 for much of the second half. It looked like Deportivo Dooradoyle were going to earn their first point of the tournament until the very last minute with practically the last kick of the game.

A long throw was turned in by Jack Dell and Melee FC claimed all three points. It was 6 points out of 6 for them. It was really tough on Deportivo Dooradoyle who had put in a great effort.

The game that took us to the halfway stage in Group A saw ADP Netherlands 1 take on Shahs of Sunset. With victory in their opening fixture for both teams this was an intriguing fixture and one we were very much looking forward to. It proved to be a very entertaining game.

ADP Netherlands 1 opened the scoring through Jan Van Rabenswaaij and then doubled the advantage to put them in firm control. Paul Lehair pulled one back for Shahs of Sunset before half-time and gave his team a lifeline.

Shahs of Sunset were in striking distance going into the second period and they struck through Paolo Ferrari to complete the comeback. With the game at 2-2 the momentum was with Shahs of Sunset.

There was to be a winning goal in the game and in another twist it was ADP Netherlands 1 who grabbed the winner, 3-2. The goal was scored by Jan Van Rabenswaaij to complete his hat-trick – a back heel through two defenders legs.

It was a great game and the win put ADP Netherlands 1 on top with Melee FC.