JNJ Corporate 5-a-side Football Tournament Krakow 2016 Tour Report Group A Round 2

Results

JNJ Poland (Pol)	2	V	1	JNJ High Wycombe (Eng)
Synthes UK 2 (Eng)	0	V	1	J&J GBS Reds (Cze)
The Rodallega Bombs (Eng)	0	V	2	Maidenhead A (Eng)

With their first games under their belts it was Round 2 for most of the teams in Group A and time to settle in to the tournament. There was one team yet to begin their campaign and that was JNJ Poland. They would kick-off against JNJ High Wycombe.

J&J 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.

At the 2015 Prague event they recorded 3 wins and 1 draw in their 5 group games to finish third in Group B and qualify for the Cup competition. They put in a great 2-2 performance in the Quarter-Finals against De Puy Synthes 1 but missed out on a Semi-Final due to a 3-2 defeat in the penalty shoot-out.

JNJ High Wycombe were looking to bounce back from opening game defeat and they started off well as it was they who opened the scoring with a strike from Emmanuel Aisabokhae.

JNJ Poland launched a stunning second half comeback as two goals from Jacek Banas turned the game on its head and provided JNJ Poland with a great opening win.

Next up on Pitch A was Synthes UK 2 versus GBS Reds. Both teams were looking to put heavy opening defeats behind them and kick-start their campaign.

GBS Reds were making it eurofootballfives.com appearance number 14 in Krakow. As well as playing in the JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament they have graced public tournaments on the eurofootballfives.com circuit. They have previously made seven Prague appearances plus overseas tours to the 2010 Krakow Trophy, the 2011 Amsterdam Fives, the 2012 Berlin Fives, the Plate Champion of Champions tournament in Budapest 2013 and the JNJ Euro Soccer Tournaments in Budapest 2013, Bratislava 2014 and now Krakow 2016. They have reached 5 Plate Semi-Finals, 2 Cup Quarter-Finals and have 2 Plate victories to their name at the 2010 Prague Trophy and 2012 Berlin Fives. Last year they entered two teams as the A team reached the Plate Semi-Finals and the B team won the Wooden Spoon play-off. This year they concentrate their strength into one team.

GBS Reds had drawn 2-2 with De Puy Synthes 1 the previous 2 seasons but were yet to face the 2nd team until today. That was obviously about to change and it was an equally tight contest with nothing to separate the two teams in the first half, 0-0.

In the second half there was to be a winner – the goal that settled matters was scored by David Alonso. It was his second goal in as many games. In the opening match his goal was a consolation, in this game it earnt all 3 points for GBS Reds.

To complete Round 2 we had The Rodallega Bombs versus Maidenhead A. This was a game between two first round winners from Round 1. The prize on offer for the winner of this game, if there was to be one, was to go to the top of Group A. A draw would see the two teams share the lead on 4 points.

We briefly introduced The Rodallega Bombs in Round 1 but let's fully introduce them here. Bratislava 2014 was their debut when they competed as S & OP FC and their games provided us with more goals than any other team competing – 38 goals in 6 fixtures. It started with a 9 goal thriller they narrowly lost 5-4 to JNJ Zug before a debut win 2-0 over Gerri Hatricks FC. They went down 4-1 to JNJ Russia B before a great 3-2 win over J&J Poland. They then lost to the champions in waiting JNJ High Wycombe A. They had qualified for the Plate Semi-Finals where the champions from Budapest 2013, JNJ Russia A, accounted for them.

They took two teams to mount their 2015 challenge in Prague playing as Leeds One and Leeds Two. The teams finished 4th and 6th in their respective groups to qualify for the Plate and the Wooden Spoon. Leeds One went out in a 6-5 thriller to Cilag Team 2 (Swi) whereas Leeds Two lost out in the Wooden Spoon play-off to GBS Reds (Cze).

They had started well here in Krakow with a win against JNJ High Wycombe but they found themselves behind early on against Maidenhead A. Maidenhead A hit the front through Niall Dowling and then doubled their lead through Vincent Tavernier's third goal in 2 games.

Maidenhead A were proving very adept at life in the JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament. They had scored 6 goals, were yet to concede and sat proudly on top of Group A with a 100% record as they finished this game as 2-0 winners.

Table

Team	Pld	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Agst	Pts
Maidenhead A (Eng)	2	2	0	0	6	0	6
JNJ Medical Russia (Rus)	1	1	0	0	5	1	3
JNJ Poland (Pol)	1	1	0	0	2	1	3
The Rodallega Bombs (Eng)	2	1	0	1	2	3	3
GBS Reds (Cze)	2	1	0	1	2	5	3
JNJ High Wycombe (Eng)	2	0	0	2	2	4	0
Synthes UK 2 (Eng)	2	0	0	2	0	5	0

Click on links below to proceed to

site disclaimer | contact us