We began Group C with Red Cow Belgrade versus Melee FC.

Red Cow Belgrade were making their fourth appearance in eurofootballfives.com competition. They made their debut with us at the 2013 Budapest Fives and finished 4th in their 6-team group – a group that featured both the eventual finalists. They then played in the 2014 Algarve Open where they slipped to 6th in Group B and were eliminated at this phase of the tournament. They were much improved at the 2014 Barcelona Fives where 3 wins out of 4 in the group phase saw them finish 2 nd in Group C behind Spain's Prospe FC. 2 nd in most tournaments is Cup qualification but in Barcelona it meant the Plate would await Red Cow Belgrade. They started off the knock-out phase well with a 3-0 win over BCN Raiders and then a 0-0 draw with ADP Netherlands in the Semi-Finals. They were victorious via penalties and met Naranjitos of Spain in the Final. Sadly for Red Cow Belgrade they couldn't quite get over the line and had to settle for Runners-Up medals after a 2-0 defeat.

We will preview their opponents, Melee FC, in more detail in Round 2 but suffice to say they are a quality outfit having reached Cup Finals at the 2013 Barcelona Fives and the 2014 Amsterdam Fives.

The two teams played out a fairly even contest in the first half and when the referee blew for the break we remained at 0-0. There was to be a goal in the second half and it came from Melee FC's Chris Pilsbury…..the final score was 1-0 and they were on the Cup Final trail once again.

The last two teams to get underway were Groundforce Lisboa versus Frank Hirth B.

Groundforce Lisboa were making their second eurofootballfives.com appearance. They played at the previous Lisbon tournament in 2013 and started off with two narrow 3-2 defeats before picking up their first win with 4-1 victory over ACE & The Swagmen. Another victory and defeat saw them finish fourth and qualify for the Plate. A 3-0 Semi-Final win over Hungary's Csabagyongye was followed by a magnificent 5-0 win over England's FC Dynamoes in the Final to win the Plate. This was a much changed line-up from 2.5 years ago so how would they fare today?

The team were playing a Frank Hirth B team who had already seen their A team in action on Pitch A. They had already seen their A team pick-up a point in their opening fixture so could they emulate their tour-mates or even go one further?

So far so good after the early exchanges and we reached half-time with both teams still in the hunt for victory – we were level at 0-0. The second half came and went with defences still on top and there were to be no goals for the watching galleries to celebrate. It was a solid start for both teams.