Barcelona 2023 Tour Report Group A Round 4

Results

Mitre FC A (Eng)	3	V	0	John Arne Riise's Pieces (Eng)
Norfolk N Chance (Eng)	3	V	1	Apolo Leyendas (Ned)
RSC Andylecht (Eng)	0	V	2	Sharks (Spa)

Round 4 of Group A began with Mitre FC A in action again. They were our league leaders with 7 points from a possible 9 to date. They remained unbeaten and yet to concede a goal. Their opponents were John Arne Riise's Pieces who sat out Round 3 and would have been champing at the bit to get back on the field of play. They opened up with a 3-0 win over Apolo Leyendas but then suffered a 2-0 defeat to Sharks.

It was the league leaders who drew first blood though as Rowen Mensah struck for Mitre FC A. At the start of Round 4, Mitre FC A had a 1 point advantage at the top of the table. If they could hold on to victory they would extend that lead to 4 points and guarantee going into Round 5 still at the summit of the table.

Their 1-0 lead became 2-0 when Harry de Blabby was on target before Samuele Pagano scored his fifth of the tournament to confirm all 3 points in a 3-0 win. So far so good for Mitre FC A.

Norfolk N Chance had just seen one of their main challengers in Group A move 4 points ahead of them in the table. The current title holders did have two games in hand and would now play one of those against Apolo Leyendas. Mitre FC A were certainly keeping scoreboard pressure on the defending champions.

Norfolk N Chance had been on fire in their opening two games with 10 goals scored and just the 1 conceded as they'd amassed the maximum 6 points on offer. They would be up against an Apolo Leyendas team who had found life difficult so far but had just registered their first points and would hope that would be a springboard to breathe life into their game. A win against the champions would certainly do that.

It looked like business as usual for Norfolk N Chance as Joe Sames and Kurtis Upton put them two goals ahead. Felipe Coppola pulled a goal back to set up a potentially nervy end to the game but Norfolk N Chance had breathing space again when Joe Sames restored the two goal lead at 3-1. That's how we finished and Norfolk N Chance closed the gap on the league leaders to 1 point again.

Game 12 of Group A was RSC Andylecht versus Sharks. These were the two teams in joint third place on 4 points. With just two teams qualifying for the Cup they needed to make ground on the two teams above them. Mitre FC A and Norfolk N Chance had both won in Round 4 and moved onto 10 points and 9 points respectively. Realistically, the two teams here needed to win to keep pace with those above them. A draw, whilst a good result in isolation, would only serve to help the top two.

Sharks were still unbeaten and had only played twice so far but were unbeaten with a win and a draw. Savas Eftychidis was the man to break the deadlock in this tie as Sharks moved 1-0 ahead. The Spanish team were yet to concede in the tournament and so any lead could be viewed as a commanding lead with their defensive abilities.

The onus was now on RSC Andylecht to go forward and get back onto level terms. This was their fourth game of the tournament so had less room for manoeuvre in terms of results. The danger for them was that pushing forward was likely to lead to gaps at the back.

When the all-important second goal of the game arrived it came from Savas Eftychidis again. His second goal clinched all three points and moved his team up into third on their own and just 3 points off top spot.

Table

Team	Pld	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Agst	Pts
Mitre FC A (Eng)	4	3	1	0	10	0	10
Norfolk N Chance (Eng)	3	3	0	0	13	2	9
Sharks (Spa)	3	2	1	0	4	0	7
RSC Andylecht (Eng)	4	1	1	2	9	6	4
John Arne Riise's Pieces (Eng)	3	1	0	2	3	5	3
Apolo Leyendas (Ned)	4	0	1	3	2	9	1
Kiwi FC (Eng)	3	0	0	3	0	19	0

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