As the 2015 JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament Quarter-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament with Belgium, the Czech Republic, England (2), Poland, Russia, Turkey and Switzerland all represented.

We started on Pitch A with De Puy Synthes 1 versus JNJ Poland. As they had done in Bratislava 14, de Puy Synthes 1 (as Tekkers Lovakia) had progressed from the group phase with 13 points out of a possible 15. They would play a JNJ Poland team who had qualified for the Cup for the first time and surged into the knock-out stage on the back of an 8-1 win.

These were the second and third top scoring teams in the tournament to date so goals were surely to be on the menu – goalkeepers beware! It did not take long before we had our first goal and perhaps it was no surprise it came from Liam Robinson as he had scored 11 in the morning and was leading the goal-scoring charts. De Puy Synthes 1's lead did not last long as JNJ Poland quickly turned the game around to equalize for 1-1 through Artur Wrzesinski and then lead through Jakub Przeslawski. At half-time it was 2-1.

The 3rd placed team from Group B was leading the winners of Group A which would have raised some eyebrows and De Puy Synthes 1 needed to recover….and they did. Liam Robinson's 13th of the day was unlucky for JNJ Poland. The goal made it 2-2 and that's how we finished in normal time. We would have our first penalty shoot-out of the Cup. De Puy Synthes 1 would shoot first.

Josh Lynn would send Szymon Krupka the wrong way to make it 1-0 to the English team. Grzegorz Deptual was up first for JNJ Poland but he saw his placed penalty saved by Neil Howard who dived low to his right to keep it out. Andrew Preece took full advantage to make it 2-0 and JNJ Poland were in trouble. For the next penalty Neil Howard went the same way as he did the first but Artur Wrzesinski placed it into the other corner for 2-1. Tom Woollams was up next to win it for De Puy Synthes 1 but he scuffed his penalty wide and JNJ Poland had a lifeline. Jacek Banas drove the ball into the bottom right as Neil Howard dove to the left and it was 2-2 in the shoot-out as it had been in normal death.

It was sudden death penalty time and Liam Robison stepped up to the spot. With 13 goals to his name it was a surprise for some bystanders he wasn't in the original 3 takers. He duly converted and at 3-2 JNJ Poland had to score to stay in it again. Dawid Paszek stepped forward and his penalty was an almost replica of Deptula's. Same corner, goalkeeper dived the same way and the same result – Neil Howard saved the penalty and he'd put his team into the Semi-Finals.

Our commiserations to JNJ Poland who were so close to sensational win. It was no doubt their best performance to date with great improvement from Bratislava 2014 and we hope to see them back in 2016 for another crack at the title!

So, who would meet Policia Local in the Semi-Final? It was Slavoj Consumer against JNJ Turkey. Slavoj Consumer was a team on the up and up. In their two previous appearances they had won the Plate on both occasions. This year they had won their group with 4 wins out of 5 and that one defeat was a narrow 2-1 loss to the current holders of the JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament title. There would be no Plate this time but could they take the Cup instead?

Their opponents JNJ Turkey were on debut and in unchartered territory. They had impressed in the group phase with 3 wins from 5 games to finish third behind De Puy Synthes 1 and GTSC. As it was a group winner versus a third placed team you would expect the group winners to go through to the next round but Slavoj Consumer suffered a JNJ Turkey onslaught in the first half. Edip Efe scored a double to take his tally for the day to 8 goals and JNJ Turkey were in charge. When Ozan Capar made it 3-0 before half-time it looked ominous for the Czech team.

This game was JNJ Turkey's to lose and they showed no signs of doing that. The second half was closer and there was a goal for Ozgur Baslilar (JNJ Turkey) and Michal Dudon (Slavoj Consumer) but the damage was already done in the first half. Final score, 4-1.

It was a shame to see Slavoj Consumer go out at this stage but only one team could go through. A quick mention to Michal Dudon who had his best tournament in front of goal scoring 7 to beat his total of 6 at the 2012 event.

The final Quarter-Final was GTSC versus JNJ Russia. It was the Runners-Up from Group A and Group C respectively so the two teams should have been well matched and they proved to be so.

JNJ Russia had been very successful so far in our tournaments taking overall victory in the Cup in Budapest 2013 and having both finalists in the 2014 Bratislava Plate with the B team taking glory. In both those tournaments they also boasted the top goalscorer. In Cup Quarter-Finals they have had mixed results – winning one and losing one both in Prague 2012. They had enjoyed a decent morning with 8 points from 2 wins and 2 draws scoring 12 goals and conceding just 3. When you consider they'd played Cilag Team 1 this was excellent. They lost 2-0 to the Swiss team which is as close as anyone had got so far.

Their opponents GTSC were breaking new ground reaching the Cup. In their previous appearance in the JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament they qualified for the Plate Quarter-Finals where they were victorious 3-1 over JNJ Wuppertal – a repeat would do them nicely. GTSC had enjoyed a great day so far with 4 wins out of 5 and would be looking forward to making that 5 out of 6.

The teams could not be separated during normal time. The teams reached half-time level at 1-1 thanks to Nicholas Peeters (GTSC) and Artem Khodas (JNJ Russia). We reached full-time level at 2-2 courtesy of Sander Verschuren (GTSC) and Artem Khodas (JNJ Russia) again. Khodas was the top goalscorer in 2013 with 13 goals and amazingly these were his first of today – and they were crucial.

We went into penalties in what was an enthralling shoot-out and we were still level every step of the way.

1-1, Bram Vercauteren and Artem Khodas both converted the first round of penalties. This was followed by Wilco Veldhuizen and Vladimir Doroshenkov proving equally as successful to make it 2-2. Nicholas Peeters and Gaspar Arutyunov were the final men to step forward and both found the back of the net to make it 3-3. We required sudden death penalties to decide this match and we finally had a winner – Rustam Keceurkov goalscorer and Denis Teslenko goalkeeper were the heroes for JNJ Russia who were through – just.

GTSC were out in the cruelest of fashions – 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss – excellent form and we hope they can go further on their next appearance.