The 29th June 2019 was the date that saw the eighth annual JNJ Euro Soccer 5-a-side Tournament kick off in the wonderful city of Riga. Latvia was the fifth country to stage this great event.

The previous JNJ Euro Soccer Tournaments have produced some sensational football. JNJ Croatia won the inaugural tournament in Prague 2012 which now seems just a distant memory! Budapest 2013 saw JNJ Russia taste success for the first time.

There was English joy in Bratislava 2014 when JNJ High Wycombe A emerged successful. Switzerland's Cilag Team made an impressive debut when they lifted the trophy aloft in Prague 2015 before JNJ Russia became the first team to win a second title as they took the glory in Krakow 2016.

Cilag Team made a successful return to action in Bratislava 2017 and claimed their second title to equal JNJ Russia's record. We had a new name on the Cup in Budapest 2018 as JNJ Turkey won their first title.

It was the holders who would kick us off against the hosts – Baltic Team of Latvia. JNJ Turkey showed why they were champions last year with a thumping 13-0 win. There were 5 goals each for Serkan Kardesler and Mustafa Kus with additional strikes from Edip Efe, Ozgur Baslilar and Kartal Mustafa Yalcinkaya.

The first phase of the 2019 JNJ Euro Soccer Tournament would be decided on a group basis. Each team would play each other team in their group once. After which, depending on position, 16 teams would progress to the Cup or Plate competition. 1 team would be eliminated.

The teams finishing 1st and 2nd in each group would progress to the Cup competition. They would be joined by the 3rd placed teams in Groups A and B. This would be played as a knock-out phase with Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final.

The teams finishing 3rd in Group C and teams finishing 4th and 5th in each group would progress to the Plate competition. They would be joined by the best 6th placed team from Groups A and B. This would also be played as a knock-out phase with Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Final.

The other team finishing 6th would be eliminated.

The final fixture in the opening round of Group A was Nordic Vikings (Scand) and Beeston Operation Leeds (Eng). Beeston Operation Leeds won the equivalent fixture 4-2 in the group phase last year. This year was another entertaining game.

It started well for Beeston Operation Leeds as Lewis Butler opened up a 2-0 lead for his team before Mikael Lindholm reduced the deficit to 2-1. Harry Jones restored the goal lead but Markus Korhonen made it 3-2 as the Scandanavian team trailed by just the one goal at half-time. In the second half Lewis Butler extended the Beeston lead to 5-2. Markus Johansson grabbed a consolation for Nordic Vikings but the 3 points went to Beeston Operation Leeds.