We were down to our final 4 teams in the Plate competition. The first Semi-Final would see Fiorentina Turner 1 versus Krakowcaine as England met Switzerland. This promised to be a high quality encounter.

Krakowcaine were appearing in their second eurofootballfives.com Semi-Final after previously doing so in the Cup competition of the 2017 Krakow Trophy. It was a surprise exit to Slovakia's GSF Drunkerz to prevent a debut final.

Fiorentina Turner 1 would be really tough opposition for the Swiss. They had won 6 of their 8 games today which was incredible and Cup form on any other day. This really was a high quality Plate competition. The English team had scored 20 goals today and conceded just 6 (3 of which in their opening game).

In comparison, Krakowcaine had scored 21 goals and conceded 14. The two teams had scored similar amounts but, statistically at least, it looked like the stronger defensive form of Fiorentina Turner 1 could be the difference in this game.

There were goals aplenty to enjoy in this fixture – 41 between these two teams before this game and another 6 here. It was Fiorentina Turner 1 who lead before Nacho Mochales pulled it back to 1-1. Fiorentina Turner 1 regained the lead and then extended it to 3-1 before Hector Navarro reduced the deficit to 3-2. Fiorentina Turner 1 then struck the killer blow to make it 4-2 and seal safe passage to the Plate Final. The English teams goals came from Danny Camm, Matt Hanson (2) and Harry Boys.

It was farewell to Krakowcaine for the day but we thank them for attending their second eurofootballfives.com tournament of the season. We hope to see you again next year.

The second Semi-Final was LT United versus FourInTina. Who could join Fiorentina Turner 1 in the Plate Final?

These two teams were incredibly evenly matched based upon their record today. If we had ranked all the teams at the end of the group phase, not just in the Plate but overall, then LT United would have ranked 8th. FourInTina would have ranked 11th. Both teams finished third in their group with 5 wins from 7 games. LT United had the better goal difference of +14 compared to +9. These two teams also boasted the top two scorers in the tournament overall. LT United had Edgaras Buzas on 11 goals whilst LT United has Keiran Kendrick on 10 goals.

Those watching by Pitch D witnessed a cracking game as the Welsh team forged ahead through Ellis Wood. It was his sixth goal of the tournament. LT United equalized through Linas Vaiciukauskas. It was his third of the tournament and he did not have to wait long to grab his fourth. His second of the game put LT United in front for the first time. FourInTina wrestled back the momentum to equalize through Keiran Kendrick. His goal made it 2-2 and sent the game into a penalty shoot-out. He also levelled with Edgaras Buzas as the top of the goal-scoring charts. One of these men would get a chance to add to their tally in the Plate Final…one would not.

FourInTina had already been in a penalty shoot-out in the Quarter-Finals and had scored 7 out of 7. LT United must have feared the worst then when they missed their first penalty. FourInTina took advantage to go 1-0 up before LT United levelled it. FourInTina missed their second penalty and it was game on again. Both penalties were scored in the next round to make it 2-2 and we required sudden death. We would only need 1 more penalty each as LT United emerged victorious.

It was a tough exit for FourInTina who had performed well on debut and on another day could easily have made the final. On another day, they could easily have qualified for the Cup instead of the Plate but such was the high level of competition today it was not to be. I think it is fair to say this was the best ever performance by a team representing Wales in our tournaments. We hope they return to have a crack at being our first Welsh winners.