As the 2018 Lisbon Tournament Cup Quarter-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament. There was a strong international challenge with 3 English, 3 Polish, 1 French and 1 Lithuanian team all in with a very good chance of securing victory today. All 8 teams were looking for a first eurofootballfives.com win.

We started on Pitch A with a team who had come very close before to victory. The A Team of France had finished runners-up on 2 previous occasions (the 2013 Krakow Trophy, 2015 Bratislava Fives). They also had a Cup Semi-Final (2016 Prague Tournament) and a Cup Quarter-Final (2017 Vilnius Tournament) on their CV.

The A Team's opponents would be RAF Fylingdales who were breaking new ground with easily their best performance at our events. In their three previous appearances they had made the Trophy once and the Plate twice. The Cup would be a brand new challenge.

Having won Group A, The A Team would have been confident and they took the lead through Randy Tchutio – his ninth of the day. 1-0 became 2-0 thanks to a Youcef Touchoune strike. RAF Fylingdales then grabbed a goal back through Leigh Webb. The talking point of this game was a potential equalizer at the end of the game. Following the ball going out of play, the French goalkeeper through the ball onto the pitch for his defender to take the goal kick. Thinking it was in play the Fylingdales forward put the ball in the net and the referee initially gave the goal but then ruled it out. It prevented an equalizer for RAF Fylingdales but, from our understanding of what happened, it seemed the ultimate decision was the correct decision. Nothing like a bit of controversy in football!

Quarter-Final three saw Lilchicago take on Monaco Tiny Gdanskers.

Similarly to The A Team in Quarter-Final 1, Lilchicago had come close to glory but had not quite got over the line. So far they had reached a Cup QF and a Cup Final in 2017 – losing both on penalties. In May 2018, they reached the Cup SF but went out 5-4. Could Gdansk be the breakthrough for the Lithuanians?

Similarly to Bulota PK in Quarter-Final 2, Lilchicago had been hugely impressive this morning en route to winning Group B. They had a 100% record with 19 goals scored and just 4 conceded.

Monaco Tiny Gdanskers were on debut and performed well. They secured 2 wins, 2 draws and slipped up just the once in the group phase. They scored 12 goals and conceded 7 in their 5 games. This Quarter-Final would be their toughest challenge yet.

Lilchicago looked to be in determined fashion in order to collect some silverware. Captain Danas Kulisauskas was the key difference between the two teams in this match up. He scored twice for the Lithuanian team to send his side through.

The tournament was over for Monaco Tiny Gdanskers – for today at least. They have indicated they may join us on tour in 2019. We certainly hope so.

The final Quarter-Final was FC Foreigntina versus Northern Town FC. This was arguably the most intriguing match up of all the Quarter-Finals. It was the Group D winners versus the runners-up finishers in Group C.

FC Foreigntina progressed from probably the toughest group in terms of the most closely matched teams from teams #1 to 6. Northern Town FC progressed to the Cup behind the #1 ranked team from the group phase. They pushed Bulota PK close when they played and lost narrowly 3-2.

On the pitch there was just the one goal to separate the two teams in an evenly contested first half. Campbell McAuley was the man with the crucial first goal of the game.

1-0 at half-time was an advantageous position for Northern Town FC but it was not a winning position – not yet anyway. FC Foreigntina would pull level in the second half through Joao Puga's 7 th strike of the day.

Northern Town FC were resilient though and managed to regain the lead. Chris Slevin scored the goal that put themselves in front again. They completed a 2-1 win and marched on to the Semi-Finals.

It was not to be today for FC Foreigntina who were a great addition to our tournament circuit. We very much hope they will be back in 2019 to give it another go.