So, all eyes were on Pitch A as we came down to the biggest match of the day in the Open Age section – The 2017 Lisbon Tournament Cup Final.

The two teams set to do battle for the honour and glory of victory were Wonderleague (Portugal) versus Pangare Futebol Clube (Brazil). History was on the side of Wonderleague as we had seen Portuguese success here in Lisbon in all three of our previous tournaments in 2013, 2015 and 2016.

Obviously history would count for nothing when the two teams entered the field of play. If we wanted to have a look at the two teams form coming into this Cup Final it would be:

Wonderleague

Played 9 games with 7 wins and 2 defeats.

They had scored 24 goals and conceded 7 goals during the tournament.

2 nd top scorers in the tournament, 4 th best defence.

Won their last 3 games.

Pangare Futebol Clube

Played 9 games with 8 wins and 1 defeat.

They had scored 27 goals and conceded 6 goals during the tournament.

Top scorers in the tournament, 2 nd best defence.

Won their last 4 games.

The two teams had already played this morning all the way back in game #2 (of 28) in Group B. On that occasion Pangare Futebol Clube had won 3-1 and a repeat would see them crowned as our first Brazilian champions.

All the stats above pointed to a Brazilian win but when the Cup Final began it was Wonderleague who struck first. Bruno Miguel Fernandes Pinto scored his sixth and surely most important goal of the tournament. It looked like we were on course for yet another Portuguese success in the Lisbon Tournament.

Pangare Futebol Clube had other ideas though. It did not take them too long to level things up at 1-1 thanks to Denilson Jesus who scored his fifth of the tournament. He was scoring goals at the right time though with a goal in the Quarter-Final, Semi-Final and now in the Cup Final itself.

At 1-1 the game was perfectly poised. The next goal proved to be the winner and it was Pangare Futebol Clube who claimed it. Just like Denilson Jesus, Blendow Esteves had now scored in every round of the knock-out phase. His strike was his seventh of the day and was effectively the goal that won the tournament for Brazil.

We offer our consolations to Wonderleague who were absolutely superb on the day and a top quality side. They could not have come much closer to glory and we are sure there is a future tournament success waiting for them. They collected runners-up medals in the presentation.

In the top goal-scorer stakes it was Gary Bartley of AAK S&S who claimed the golden boot award. He scored 11 goals in 10 games to claim the trophy.

For the main event, our congratulations go to Pangare Futebol Clube – worthy 2017 Lisbon Tournament champions!

Thank you to all the teams who competed. We hope to see you all again at a tournament very soon.