We arrived at the Plate Quarter-Final stage and we would shortly see eight teams reduced to four teams. The first two teams to do battle were Stadtrandkicker 08 and SLFN Y as England met Germany.

Stadtrandkicker went out at this stage last year so had a point to prove and to see if they could make it at least one step further this year. SLFN Y were in unchartered territory. The game was even matched and there was to be no score in the opening half.

After the break the goals flowed – we had four of them Iber Zuhmann and an OG for Stadtrandkicker with Duban Sinclair and Mawulom Foli on target for SLFN Y. The game would go into Golden Goal extra time. The Golden Goal proved elusive and so penalties would be the order of the day.

It would be Duban Sinclair for SLFN Y to shoot first but he saw his penalty saved. Ibrar Zuhmann scored in the game and scored in the shoot-out to make it 1-0. Klark Schoburgh was up next for SLFN Y and his penalty was also saved. Stadtrandkicker had the chance to win it but Meik Schwarz put his penalty wide of the right-hand post and SLFN Y were still alive. Mawulom Foli made no mistake with his penalty to make it 1-1 and there was another chance for Stadtrandkicker to win it but Andreas Ergun saw his effort saved.

So, 1-1 and it was sudden death penalties in this epic struggle. Jimmy Colville saw his effort saved which gave Stadtrandkicker a third opportunity to go through. Stefan Ryll made no mistake this time and Stadtrandkicker were through. Germany versus England in a penalty shoot-out….was it ever in doubt.

It was a tough exit for SLFN Y who had put so much effort into the game and the tournament but for now we had to wish them adios.

The second Quarter-Final saw Saipan FC versus DHL Prague White. It was a mouth-watering contest as Saipan FC had always made it to the Final in the knock-out stages. DHL Prague White were no strangers to Plate Finals either as the Czechs had reached 5 previously.

We expected a close game but Saipan FC eased away from their opponents in the early stages and never looked back. They came into the game after a 7-0 win and followed that up with a 5-0 win here. They were hitting some form at the right time.

They lead 3-0 at the break as Beat Schiffhauer scored his second of the day to open the scoring. Benjamin Schoch then got in on the act before Schiffhauer put his team in control at the break. It wouldn't be a eurofootballfives' tournament without a captain's goal from Barry Lysaght and he made it 4-0 in the second half. Julian Cornelius rounded off proceedings as they emphatically booked their place in the Semi-Finals.

For DHL Prague the White team had exited the tournament but they still had interest in the competition with the Red team in the Cup competition.

Team Geek against Sporting Beerguts was Quarter-Final 3 and it would guarantee an English team in the Semi-Finals.

Team Geek came into the game unbeaten in their last two games and Sporting Beerguts were on a run of 3 games unbeaten with 3 draws in a row. This was a game with plenty of goals in it and as we reached the business end of the tie it was Sporting Beerguts who lead 3-2 thanks to goals from Neil Cartledge, Paul McHugh and Steve Linden. Could they be ending their run of draws with a win at just the right time?

Goals from Michael French and Rich Sykes had kept Team Geek in it and with time running out Dave Febrero struck to make it 3-3. Draw specialists Sporting Beerguts looked like the run of draws was back to haunt them and it would be 4 successive draws. However, it was to get worse for them as Ben Potter struck for 4-3.

It was a horrible way for Sporting Beerguts to go out but Team Geek had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.

The final Quarter-Final was England's SLFN X versus Germany's SV Zoo. The English team were making new ground but SV Zoo's sole run in eurofootballfives.com knock-out football had seen them go all the way to victory when it really counted.

SV Zoo had mixed fortunes in the group phase but raised their game here and they edged a tight opening period 1-0 with Stefan Fricke-Liebig grabbing the goal. After the break the German team went from strength to strength as Mark Wosjynek made it 2-0. Fricke-Liebig completed a hat-trick to make it 4-0 before Tobias Krenz made it 5-0.

It was an emphatic win for SV Zoo as they became the second German team to reach the Semi-Finals. For SLFN, the X and Y teams had both gone out to German opponents in this round. All their support would now go to their Z team in the Cup competition.