2019 Budapest Fives Report Cup Semi Final

Results

Skidmarks (Eng)	4	V	0	Budasesh (Eng)
JUBI Titans (Hun)	1	v	1*	Expats FC Paris (Fra)
* Expats FC Paris (Fra) won 3-1 on penalties.

We were at the 2019 Budapest Fives Cup Semi-Final stage and from 21 teams who started the day we were down to the final 4.

Up first were Skidmarks versus Budasesh. Skidmarks had an unbelievable record in our events. This was their historic 10 th appearance and when they took to the field it would be their 9th semi-final appearance with 8 of those at Cup level and 1 at Plate level. They had reached 5 Cup Finals before and were bidding to make that 6 en route to a potential third title.

Budasesh had claimed a mighty scalp in the previous round when they disposed of Mamarre FC via a penalty shoot-out. Budasesh were entering unchartered waters as they had previously reached 2 Plate Semi-Finals, 1 Plate Quarter-Final and 1 Trophy Quarter-Final. Here they stood in Budapest in the Cup for the first time just one game away from their first European final.

It was Skidmarks who broke the deadlock once the match got underway. Ricki Keeley was the man with the goal as he took his tally today to 3. A second goal before the break put Skidmarks in control – Iain Congdon the man with the goal. The second half kicked off at 2-0 and the next goal really swung momentum in favour of Skidmarks. Iain Congdon's second of the game made it 3-0 and the writing was on the wall for Budasesh.

It was always going to be tough for the Budasesh team from here – they needed to chase the game for goals and they fell further behind when Neil Taylor made it 4-0.

The tournament was over for Budasesh but it was their best performance in a eurofootballfives.com tournament. Cup Semi-Final in 2019, Cup Final in 2020?

So, who would take their place in the Final from the second Semi-Final? The two teams set to do battle were JUBI Titans and Paris Expats FC.

Hungarian teams had been setting this tournament on fire in the group phase. All 3 group winners were Hungarian and two of the three second placed teams were also Hungarian. However, after the Quarter-Finals, only 1 Hungarian team remained with all 3 group winners eliminated. JUBI Titans were the last Hungarian hope and the 2019 Budapest Fives was wide open.

JUBI Titans would no doubt start this game as favourites – they had reached the final here in 2017, were unbeaten today with 5 wins and 2 draws plus they had just destroyed Group C winners Budapest Vikings (7-0) in the Quarter-Finals.

Expats FC Paris looked to have quite a job on their hands. There only previous eurofootballfives.com appearance had seen them reach the Quarter-Finals at the 2018 Barcelona Fives where they ran into the juggernaut that was AC Mazi 1996 of Greece. Today, they had already gone one step further and a place in the Cup Final was there for the taking.

It was Expats FC Paris who took the lead with Mike Walne scoring his fourth of the tournament. It could be his most valuable goal yet. JUBI Titans were not unbeaten for no reason though and they struck back to make it 1-1 courtesy of a Marton Patik goal. It was his first goal since Round 2 of the group phase and, boy, was it needed. The goal secured a draw for JUBI Titans and this tie would be settled via a penalty shoot-out.

Hungarian teams had already lost two penalty shoot-outs today and it was to be an unwanted hat-trick for the host nation. Expats FC Paris went first in the shoot-out and they were exemplary scoring all 3 of their regulation penalties. JUBI Titans missed 1, scored 1 and were out 3-2. JUBI Titans lost the Cup Final on pens last time and were now out in the Semi-Final also due to penalties. Expats FC Paris were through to the 2019 Budapest Fives Cup Final!

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