Tinniedad & Tobacco (Eng)

2

V

1

FC Miracle (Hun)

West One Three (Eng)

1

V

2

Los Swallacticos (NIR)

Prospe FC (Spa)

0

V

2

Liverpool Central (Eng)

Csabagyongye (Hun)

1

V

5

Monexy (Ukr)

 

The 2014 Barcelona Fives Cup competition was the hardest ever to qualify for with 2nd place in a 5-team group not guaranteed to make the elite 8 teams so well done to everyone who had made it this far. Even last year's winners, Los Swallacticos, had only just made it into the exclusive club of the final 8.

The first Cup Quarter-Final saw Tinniedad & Tobacco versus FC Miracle. It was the Group A winners versus the best 2nd place team in the group phase so a high quality contest awaited us. On debut, Tinniedad & Tobacco had adjusted well to the European challenge in the group phase. Could they continue that in the knockout phase?

In Tinniedad & Tobacco's way stood a tough obstacle. FC Miracle had a great record in eurofootballfives.com competition with victory at the 2012 Valencia Fives and a Runners-Up finish at the 2011 Barca Fives. They had played 3 Cup Quarter-Final ties and won them all. That run looked set to continue with FC Miracle opening the scoring through Janos Molnar's fifth goal of the day.

Tinniedad & Tobacco had not lost yet today (3 wins, 1 draw) and they would need to dig deep to turn this game around. In the second half Michael Wilkes levelled the score at 1-1 and it was game on. It got even better for Tinniedad & Tobacco when Wilkes struck again to give his team a 2-1 lead. The game became tense as FC Miracle did all they could to get back into it themselves but time was against them and Tinniedad & Tobacco had emerged victorious.

It was farewell to FC Miracle who would consider themselves a touch unfortunate to go out at this stage and still finish as the second top goal-scoring team in the tournament with 17 goals but they had been edged out and it was game over for today. FC Miracle have advised they are looking to compete in the 2015 Amsterdam Fives and 2015 Valencia Fives next season – it will be our sincere pleasure to see them again as they search for tournament victory #2.

 
 
 

Who would meet Tinniedad & Tobacco in the Semi-Finals? The two teams taking the field for the honour were West One Three and Los Swallacticos. Both teams had played well this morning with West One Three having the better record – 3 wins and 1 draw compared to Los Swallacticos 3 wins and 1 defeat.

This was West One Three's second eurofootballfives.com appearance and first Cup Quarter-Final. They had a much changed team since their 2009 visit to the Catalan capital and they featured the bulk of a squad who had won the 2014 Powerade Cup in the UK. They had looked like one of the teams to beat in the group phase as their unbeaten run included a win over 2012 Valencia Fives champions FC Miracle.

Los Swallacticos were the winners here 12 months ago and as such this represented a real heavyweight tie for a Quarter-Final. It would be a contest worthy of a Cup Final so it would be a shame to lose one of these teams at this stage.

There was much to play for and it was advantage to West One Three early on when they scored with Los Swallacticos barely having a touch of the ball. James McCluskey scored his eight of the tournament to give his team a vital 1-0 lead.

Los Swallacticos needed a goal to keep their title challenge going and Paul Finnegan duly obliged before the break to make it 1-1. It was a great response from the current champions. The game was a full blooded and feisty encounter with both teams leaving everything on the pitch – whoever would go on to win this one would certainly deserve it.

Deaghlan O'Hagan struck the next blow to put Los Swallacticos 2-1 up and the team from Northern Ireland were showing the exact same fighting spirit that saw them victorious here last October. West One Three were now up against it and they did everything within their power to get an equalizer and take the game to penalties but it was not to be in the time that remained. The referee blew for full-time and it was Los Swallacticos who were going through.

It was an epic game and it was a shame we had to say farewell to one of these teams. It was good to see West One Three on tour again and we hope they enjoyed their Barcelona football weekend with eurofootballfives.com.

 
 
 

The third Cup Quarter-Final saw Prospe FC as Group C winners meet the 3rd best runners-up Liverpool Central. Prospe FC were one of three teams left in the tournament to still boast a 100% record and they were the last Spanish hope for victory today.

Liverpool Central had reached the Cup Quarter-Finals for the second time. On that first occasion they succumbed to Budapest Celtic Tigers so would hope to put that right here today. Liverpool Central had started the day well with three wins in a row but came into the game on the back of their first defeat – 3-2 to Csabagyongye. How could they respond?

Pretty well is the answer. In a feisty encounter that saw four yellow cards – two of them for David Puyol Izquierdo that saw Prospe FC's top goalscorer (with 5 goals) see red it was Liverpool Central who would progress to the Semi-Finals. Goals for Chris Williams and Ryan Crook saw them win the game 2-0.

It was a great victory for Liverpool Central as it was only the second and third goals that Prospe FC had conceded but the Spanish were out. Even though they were out Prospe FC finished with the second best defence in the tournament and finished with the second best goal difference overall. This showed how good a win it was for Liverpool Central.

There had been 4 previous home winners in the Barcelona Fives but not today – the last Spanish hope in the shape of Prospe FC had fallen.

 
 
 

The final Quarter-Final would see Csabagyongye take on Monexy. It was the toughest Cup Quarter-Final with two group winners coming head-to-head. As it turned out, it was two of the best group winners with both boasting 100% records. This could easily have been a Cup Final on another day.

Csabagyongye had reached this Cup Quarter-Final stage on 3 previous occasions with wins at home in the Budapest Fives in 2011 (3-1 versus Centrale Paris B of France) and 2014 (1-0 versus Johnsbridge FC of England). On their only away Cup Quarter-Final to date, also in Spain, they lost 6-3 to local team Rollert FC 6-3 at the 2011 Valencia Fives.

In the opening period, the game was every bit as tight as the two group records suggested – Csabagyongye had scored 7 and conceded 2 in their four group wins in Group D whilst Monexy had scored 16 and conceded just 1 in their four Group E wins boosted by a 10-1 win over ACE & The Swagmen. The two teams entered the break at 1-1 with Volodymyr Fenenko putting the Ukraine team ahead before Gergo Koczka hit a strike from distance to equalize with his third goal of the day. Andrii Trosiuk was beaten for just the second time today although he may have felt he could have kept it out.

After the restart it was captain Artem Illichov who put Monexy back in front at 2-1 and then he doubled the lead to make it 3-1. Csabagyongye had an uphill battle to get back into this one. That hill became a mountain when Andrii Trosiuk made it 4-1 and Volodymyr Fenenko (who started the scoring) finished the scoring to complete a convincing 5-1 in the end.

It was the end of the road for Csabagyongye who had a great 2014 in our tournaments.

 
 
 
Group Phase
 
 
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Plate Knock-out
 
Cup Knock-out
 
 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
   
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