JNJ Corporate 5-a-side Football Tournament Prague 2015 Tour Report Group B Round 2

Results

Cilag Team 3 (Swi)	2	V	4	Slavoj Consumer (Cze)
JNJ High Wycombe A (Eng)	1	V	1	JNJ Wuppertal (Ger)
JNJ Poland (Pol)	1	V	0	De Puy Synthes 2 (Eng)

Cilag Team 3 came into Round 2 looking to avenge first game defeat and bounce back quickly. Their opponents, Slavoj Consumer, were looking to build on a first game victory and make it two wins from two games.

Slavoj Consumer were returning to the JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament in 2015. They had a slow start to their 2012 campaign with 2 defeats and 2 draws in their group before an 8-0 win kick-started their challenge. They qualified for the Plate and won their Quarter-Final 3-0, Semi-Final on penalties and completed a 3-1 victory in the Final over JNJ Pinewood. At the 2013 event they had a tough start against the eventual winners JNJ Russia A losing 2-0 before bouncing back with a 1-0 win over JNJ High Wycombe B. They equalled their record win, 8-0, over Disaster (Hol) and looked on course for the Cup as they defeated Fi Tighe (Eng) 2-0. Final game defeat to JNJ Serbia (4-1) meant they would play in the Plate though. A 4-2 win over JNJ Wuppertal saw them reach a second successive Plate Final. They met Fi Tighe again and it went all the way to penalties. After an epic shoot-out Slavoj Consumer won the Plate again 5-4 on penalties.

In a tight first half Slavoj Consumer edged ahead through Michal Dudon. In the second half the goals flowed – for both teams. Dudon scored a second and David Blaha, like Dudon, scored for the second consecutive game. Milan Labuda opened his account for the Czech team. For Cilag Team 3 there were goals for Stefan Guarlotti and Steven Kurth but it was the home team who held the advantage at the full-time whistle winning 4-2.

Slavoj Consumer would need to be careful – if they kept winning they would qualify for the Cup and there would be no third Plate title!

We continued Round 2 with a legendary rivalry – England v Germany. It was JNJ High Wycombe A versus JNJ Wuppertal representing their nations in a fixture that had always been well contested in previous tournaments.

Here in Prague at the 2012 JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament the two teams had played out 1-1 draw with goals from Alex Woodger and Fernandes Mendes Cristovao on target. Fast forward to 2013 with Budapest the venue for a 1-0 win to JNJ High Wycombe A thanks to an Alex Parkinson goal.

Tight, low-scoring games was the history and it was to be the pattern again on the pitch in 2015. There was to be just one goal in the first half and it went to Nicki Mills of JNJ High Wycombe A. In the second half JNJ High Wycombe A could not add to their lead and they were made to pay when JNJ Wuppertal scored an equaliser. Fernandes Mendes Cristovao was the man to score again for the Germans in this fixture and it was some goal – direct from a free-kick and crashing in off the inside of the post.

For the second time in Prague these teams played out a 1-1 draw. Only time would tell if this was 1 point gained or 2 points dropped.

The game that would complete Round 2 was JNJ Poland against De Puy Synthes 2. This was a big fixture for these two teams who had come into the game undefeated. De Puy Synthes 2 could go level with Slavoj Consumer at the top with victory whilst JNJ Poland could go second.

JNJ Poland were a welcome addition to the JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament when they made their debut at the 2014 event in Bratislava. They played well but didn't quite get the results their performances merited. They lost narrowly 2-3 to JNJ Russia B in their first game and then drew 1-1 with JNJ High Wycombe A – the only team to take a point off the eventual champions. They then sourced their first win in the tournament with a 2-0 win over Gerri Hatricks before two more narrow defeats to S & OP FC and JNJ Zug. They missed out on the knock-out phase by just 2 points.

As we have seen De Puy Synthes 2 is the new name for Gerri Hatricks FC so a repeat of that 2014 score would be just what the doctor ordered for JNJ Poland. If De Puy Synthes 2 could gain some revenge it would show a measure of some improvement from 12 months ago with a win today already under their belts.

It was advantage early on for JNJ Poland when Jacek Banas scored his team's first goal of the day. The goal was good enough to take all 3 points for the Polish team as it proved to be the only goal of the game. JNJ Poland were the big movers in Round 2 as they rose from fourth position to second in the group table.

Table

Team	Pld	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Agst	Pts
Slavoj Consumer (Cze)	2	2	0	0	7	3	6
JNJ Poland (Pol)	2	1	1	0	1	0	4
De Puy Synthes 2 (Eng)	2	1	0	1	2	2	3
JNJ High Wycombe A (Eng)	2	0	2	0	1	1	2
JNJ Wuppertal (Ger)	2	0	1	1	2	4	1
Cilag Team 3 (Swi)	2	0	0	2	3	6	0

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