2018 Gdansk Tournament 5-a-side Football Tour Report Cup Semi Finals

Results

The A Team (Fra)	1	V	4	Bulota PK (Pol)
Lilchicago (Ltu)	0	v	1	Northern Town FC (Eng)

We were at the 2018 Gdansk Tournament Cup Semi-Final stage and from the 24 teams who signed we were down to the final 4 – already an achievement for those who were still in the hunt for glory. The first Cup Semi-Final would see The A Team versus Bulota PK.

The A Team were on a great run with 5 wins and 1 draw from their 6 matches today. They were bidding to reach a third eurofootballfives.com Cup Final. They had a monumental task on their hands though as Bulota PK had been on fire today.

Bulota PK still had a 100% record intact. 6 wins from 6 games with 33 goals scored and just 2 conceded including the 2 biggest wins of the day – both 9-0. Bulota PK had kept 5 clean sheets in their 6 games up to now so it was a surprise when they fell behind to a goalkeeping error. Pawel Dobieglewski had been brilliant today but he fumbled Abdesslem Bekhouche's first half effort and it was the Parisians who lead 1-0.

The A Team had almost become victims to a refereeing error in the Quarter-Final until the referee changed his mind. Here in the Semi-Finals they were victims. A handball just outside the box was given as a penalty. The referee upheld his decision and Lukasz Abryszynski put the penalty away in style – in the top left corner, 1-1.

From there Bulota PK took charge of this Semi-Final. Lukasz Abryszynski made it 2-1, Dariusz Frost stretched the lead to 3-1 before Andrzej Mechlinski completed the 4-1 win.

So, who would take their place in the Final from the second Semi-Final? The two teams set to do battle were Lilchicago against Northern Town FC.

This was Lilchicago's third successive Cup Semi-Final in our events. This time last year Lilchicago were in the process of knocking out 2x eurofootballfives.com winners Skidmarks in the Vilnius Tournament (2-0). 4 months ago they lost a Cup Semi-Final to Riga United at our Riga Tournament – by the odd goal in a 9 goal thriller.

Northern Town FC were at this stage for the first time and were looking to set up a rematch against Bulota PK in the Cup Final.

The two teams had very similar records but Lilchicago had the edge statistically. Lilchicago had 6 wins to Northern Town's 5 victories. Both teams had scored 21 goals each but Lilchicago had the better defensive record with just 4 conceded. Northern Town had conceded 9 but that may have been due to a tougher group. It's always a little tough to accurately compare teams from their group records.

On the pitch it was a keenly contested encounter and the game proved to be a tight one. As it turned out just the one goal would settle it. Campbell McAuley scored in the previous round and he was to be on target again here in the Semi-Final. The South African player proved to be the match-winner as Northern Town kept their tournament run going.

Lilchicago's wait for a first tournament victory would continue despite another strong overall performance on the day.

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