JNJ Riga Tournament 5-a-side Football Tour Report Quarter Finals, Cup

Results

Klopp ‘N Co (Bel)	5	V	1	Capital Park Leeds Blues (Eng)
JNJ Saudi Arabia (Sau)	0	v	1	Beeston Operation Leeds (Eng)
Janssen Portugal (Por)	4	v	1	Leeds One (Eng)
JNJ Russia (Rus)	1	V	2	JNJ Turkey (Tur)

We were now at the business end of the 2018 JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament - Quarter-Finals time. The original field of 17 teams had been trimmed down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament with Belgium, England (x3), Russia, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Turkey all represented.

We started on Pitch A with Klopp ‘N Co versus Capital Park Leeds Blues. If there was an award for the most improved team then Klopp ‘N Co would certainly be contenders although there were a few candidates this year. They were in the Plate competition at this stage last year (which they won) but this year they ended their Group A campaign unbeaten and finished ahead of the defending champions – not bad!

Capital Park Leeds Blues had previously reached 2x Cup Finals (Bratislava 2014, Krakow 2016) and a Cup Semi-Final (Prague 2015) so they were experienced at this level. They finished third in their group today with 3 wins and 2 defeats.

Klopp ‘N Co's form today carried them through in this one. They had scored 31 goals so far today and were to increase that tally with 3 unanswered goals in the first half here. Guy Hoskens set them on their way before Jeroen Vos made it 2-0. It was their 8th and 10th goals respectively. Sam Kennis made it comfortable at the break.

In the second half Guy Hoskens moved closer to double figures with his ninth of the day and Christophe Van Den Bogaert also got amongst the goals. The game was now safe but there was time for Jay Yaffe to bag a consolation at 5-1.

Quarter-Final two saw JNJ Saudi Arabia versus Beeston Operation Leeds.

JNJ Saudi Arabia had enjoyed an excellent morning. With the exception of one game (4-0 loss versus Leeds One) they had been in sensational form. They had won all 3 other games without conceding and scoring a lot of goals in the process. They also produced the biggest win of the tournament (18-0).

This was Beeston Operation Leeds fourth tournament with us. After two Plate qualifications in their first two appearances this was a second successive Cup appearance. They reached the Cup Semi-Finals last year and a win would see them match their best appearance in this tournament.

In a high-scoring tournament this was a low-scoring game. There was just the one goal to separate the two teams in the first half. Paul Vater was the man to score it – his first of the day and what a time to get it! In the second half there was to be no further addition to the score. Dave Gregory and his defence kept the JNJ Saudi Arabia attack at bay and they went on to reach the Cup Semi-Finals again.

We would like to thank JNJ Saudi Arabia for their participation. They had the longest journey of all the teams in the tournament and it was great to welcome them to the competition for the first time. Hopefully the first time of many.

The line-up for the first Semi-Final had been confirmed. Who would take the first berth in the second Cup Semi-Final? The teams set to do battle were Janssen Portugal and Leeds One.

It was a first Cup qualification for Janssen Portugal who had reached the Plate Final in both 2015 and 2016. Leeds One were regulars at this stage of the competition. Leeds One also qualified for the Plate in their first 2 events (2014 & 2015) but had qualified for the Cup in each of the last 3 seasons (2016, 2017 and 2018).

Sadly for Leeds One they had left us at the Quarter-Final on all 3 occasions. 2016 saw a 4-0 loss to Synthes UK 1 in Krakow. 2017 saw a 7-0 loss to JNJ Turkey in Bratislava and last year was a 4-0 loss to JNJ Russia in Budapest – all very good teams. Could they break the hoodoo in Riga in 2019?

It didn't start off too well as Bernardo Rodrigues' 9th goal of the tournament put Janssen Portugal 1-0 up. Tiago Santos then doubled the lead before Leeds One got back into it with Luke Booker's 10th goal of the day. Janssen Portugal had a 3-1 lead at half-time though as Bernardo Rodrigues scored again.

After the break a goal to complete Bernardo Rodrigues's hat-trick also sealed the game for Janssen Portugal as we finished at 4-1.

Would you believe it? A fourth successive Cup Quarter-Final exit for Leeds One. Next year…definitely next year to reach that Cup Semi.

The final Quarter-Final was JNJ Russia versus JNJ Turkey. Of all the Cup Quarter-Finals this was the one attracting the most spectators. It was the Group B winners JNJ Russia versus 2 nd place from Group A, JNJ Turkey. Before the tournament we predicted that this could be the Cup Final so this was a massive game to be staged in the Quarter-Finals.

Both teams today were unbeaten and both had recorded 4 wins and 1 draw from their 5 group games. JNJ Turkey had the better goal difference (27-3) compared with JNJ Russia (22-4) but it is always difficult to compare from group to group without knowing the relative strength of each group. We knew this would be a tight game though.

These two teams had met before in the knock-out phase back in the 2015 JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament in Prague. JNJ Russia emerged victorious that day, 2-1. Here in 2019 we witnessed another close encounter with the first half in particular being very tight. There was nothing to separate the teams at half-time, 0-0.

In the second half we were to get goals. It was JNJ Turkey who established the lead through Serkan Kardesler. It was his 12 th goal of the tournament for the man who was top scorer at the 2017 edition of the tournament in Bratislava. 1-0 became 2-0 as Mustafa Kus extended the lead. JNJ Turkey celebrated like they had won the Cup. They certainly had taken a big stride towards the Semi-Finals.

JNJ Russia were not done yet though. Following a corner the ball fell to Sergey Stupin. His long-shot from distance crashed into the back of the net for 2-1. It set up a frantic finale but JNJ Turkey were through in one of the games of the tournament.

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