The 2012 Krakow Trophy was our 7 th tournament in Krakow and to date we have had winners from England (4) and Poland (2). SV Zoo of Berlin were hoping to break that record and add Germany to that list of winners.

They took to the field in the opening game of Group A on Pitch A against home team Vamos. Both teams were debutants so we had no past records to look through and pick a winner so both teams would do their talking on the pitch and not from the record books.

SV Zoo had enjoyed the vibrant Krakow nightlife on the eve of the tournament and maybe this contributed to their slow start as they quickly found themselves 2-0 down by half-time. David Antos scored twice for Vamos and put his team in charge.

It was an improved second half from SV Zoo but the damage was already done as Vamos concluded a solid 2-0 victory and got their tournament off to the perfect start.

Skidmarks came into the tournament as one of the team's to watch having secured victory at the 2011 Valencia Fives. They overcame a strong 20-team line-up to claim glory, boasted the tournament's top goalscorer and will surely be one of the favourites to pick-up the 2012 Krakow Trophy.

They began their campaign against another of those 2011 Valencia Fives teams - D'ya Want Florentina who played in Valencia Fives as the County (Re)United squad. They finished 3 rd in their 5 team group before bowing out in the Quarter-Final stage to Coverton Road.

Skidmarks would no doubt be favourites for this game and they lived up to the billing as Iain Congdon set them on their way before Luke Hatfield made it 2-0 by half-time. The Valencia champions were in full control until an Anthony Farrell strike reduced the deficit to 2-1 and it was game on. Ultimately though Skidmarks had enough in the tank and completed a 2-1 victory taking all 3 points.

The final team to begin their Group A challenge was Valeo of Poland. The Polish team were making their debuts and started off against SV Zoo. The German team already had a game under their belts so would be warmed up already.

SV Zoo had started with a defeat and so could not afford a defeat and things started well in this game as we reached half-time all square at 0-0. In the second half the stalemate was broken when Artur Burkiet made it 1-0 to Valeo. 1-0 became 2-0 as Mikotej Biel doubled the lead for the Poles. It got worse for SV Zoo as an own goal made it 3-0 and put the game beyond their reach.

It had been a tough start for SV Zoo but Valeo were off to a flyer with all 3 points.

Vamos were back in action again against Skidmarks in Game 4 of Group A. Both teams had started well picking up wins in their first game. Another win now and the victors would be in charge of Group A. It was first blood to Skidmarks as Ashley Britten gave his side a 1-0 lead. It was a lead they would hold until half-time. Just before the break though came one of the key moments of the game as David Antos was shown a red card. It was particularly harsh call which was acknowledged by the Skidmarks team. Antos pulled back one of the Skidmarks players in a cynical foul but it was neither dangerous nor denying a goalscoring opportunity and as such Vamos were denied their two goal hero from the first match for the rest of this game.

How would Vamos respond? Pretty well is the answer as Jan Kutarba scored not once but twice to turn 1-0 down into 2-1 up. The pressure was now on Skidmarks who were unbeaten in 8 eurofootballfives.com matches to date and they needed a goal to make that 9. They did find an equalizer through Britten again and the game finished 2-2. It was some game so early in proceedings.

The next game was D'Ya Want Florentina versus Valeo as England met Poland. D'Ya Want Florentina needed to bounce back from opening game defeat in a tough opening fixture whereas Valeo knew that all 3 points wend send them top of Group A.

It was D'Ya Want Florentina who struck first as Anthony Farrell made it two goals in two games for him. The goal would give the English team a 1-0 advantage at the turnaround. This was the proverbial game of two halves as Valeo hit back in the second period through Jan Klich, Artur Burkiet and then late on through Tomasz Czarny.

It was a fine 3-1 victory for the Polish team and at the half-time stage of Group A it was they who topped the table. Skidmarks and Vamos were each two points behind with D'Ya Want Florentina and SV Zoo quickly needing to find their first points of the day.