So, onto Round 7 we go and the last attempts for the teams to stake their claim for the title, Cup or Plate qualification. The first teams to lay down their markers were Retainers Academy and ADP Netherlands.

Retainers Academy knew they would be playing Plate football this afternoon and had just picked up their first win. They needed only a point to secure 7th place and keep Cruz Del Sur B below them.

ADP Netherlands' future was much more up in the air. They could finish third with a victory. A draw would guarantee qualification for the Cup as fourth would be the lowest they could finish. If ADP lost then they could slip to fifth if two of Leave It FC, Brewin Dolphin and/or PMPCAR won.

ADP Netherlands had put two early defeats behind them and had found the correct tactics in the last four games which saw them pick-up 10 points. Two of those wins were by 1-0 as they remained defensively solid. They then picked their moments carefully to attack. In the first two games they conceded 6, they had only conceded 2 since they adopted their new approach.

This game would be their third 1-0 win in four games as Remco Nijland claimed his fourth goal of the tournament to help secure his team's safe passage into 3rd position and the Cup competition.

Game 26 of 28 in Group A was Cruz Del Sur B versus Leave It FC. Cruz Del Sur B were hoping to avoid finishing bottom of the table. They had to win to achieve that and move above Retainers Academy. Any form of victory would see Cruz Del Sur B go level with them on 3 points but leapfrog them on goal difference.

Leave It FC were still in the hunt for the Cup qualification places. Before coming into Round 7, Barrymoore's Swimming Club and Indoorsoccer had already booked 2 of the 4 places on offer. ADP Netherlands had literally just claimed the third meaning the final space was up for grabs. Brewin Dolphin could claim it with a win but if they slipped up the door was open for Leave It FC or PMPCAR. Leave It FC would have to win to have any chance though.

That is exactly what they did. Rotimi Ibironke scored his sixth goal of the day to put his team 1-0 up and Leave It FC never looked back. Ravinder Dosanjh made it 2-0 before Rotimi Ibironke finished things off for 3-0. Ibironke scored twice in Barcelona last year but had taken his total here in Lisbon to a very impressive 7 goals. As things stood he was in with a good shout for the golden boot award. At the other end Roshan Koshal had secured his second clean sheet of the day.

Leave It FC had done all they could – they now had to wait and see if it would be enough….

Group A was reaching a thrilling finale. The final game would be the title decider but this would be a cracking hor d'oeuvre to settle the Cup qualification places. Let's look at what was at stake as PMPCAR hosted Brewin Dolphin:

Brewin Dolphin win: They would secure 4 th place and a place in the Cup. Leave It FC would finish 5th and PMPCAR would finish 6th .

Draw: Brewin Dolphin, Leave It FC and PMPCAR would all finish on 10 points so it would come down to goal difference. Brewin Dolphin and Leave It FC were on +2, PMPCAR would finish in 6 th with -2. Now it was really interesting as a 0-0 or 1-1 draw would see Leave It FC finish 4 th on goals scored. A 3-3 draw or more would see Brewin Dolphin finish 4th on goals scored. A 2-2 draw would give both teams an identical goal difference of 10-8 so it would come down to head to head record. When the two teams met, Leave It FC won 2-1 so it would be they who go through.

PMPCAR win: This would leave Brewin Dolphin in sixth and Leave It FC and PMPCAR level on 10 points so goal difference would settle it. As we've seen, Leave It FC were +2 and PMPCAR were -2 so the Portuguese would need to win by 4 (6-2 or higher) or more goals to make fourth. 4-0 would see Leave It FC go through on goals scored. A 5-1 record would give both teams an identical goal difference of 10-8 so it would come down to head to head record. The two teams drew 1-1 so a penalty shoot-out would be required to see who would finish 4th and qualify for the Cup.

The permutations were fascinating but all that mattered now was what happened on the pitch. Brewin Dolphin's hopes faded when they found themselves a goal down to a Pedro Domingos strike. They lost further ground when Pedro Domingos doubled the lead for 2-0 with his fifth strike in the tournament.

As things stood the result helped neither of these teams and it was Leave It FC who would be watching on happily. The game finished 2-0 and well done to Leave It FC for that final Cup qualification place.

The 28th and final game was the climax of Group A. We could not have planned it any better if we had tried – a title decider in the final game.

The two teams set to do battle were Barrymoore's Swimming Club versus Indoorsoccer. Both teams had already qualified for the Cup so there was nothing riding on the game in that sense but there was still a lot to play for. In pragmatic terms, a 1st placed finish would provide an easier route to the Cup Final (in theory at least). There was also pride and honour of the win itself and the pride and joy of winning the group. For Barrymoore's Swimming Club there was also a 100% record to protect.

Between them, these two teams had racked up 11 wins out of 12 games. They had scored 27 goals and conceded just 3. Barrymoore's lead the way with a goal difference of 16-0 compared to 11-3 which would mark them out as favourites. They would only need a draw to secure the Group A win.

Indoorsoccer simply had to win to take the Group A title. As Bobby Robson once said “If you don't score you are not going to win a match” which was precisely the problem facing the Portuguese. How were they going to score against a team who had not yet conceded in the tournament? We didn't know the answer and neither did Indoorsoccer as Barrymoore's Swimming Club kept up a perfect defensive record in Group A. 7 clean sheets is a fine achievement by anyone's standards.

At the other end Indoorsoccer were equally as stubborn in this match as they kept their 5th clean sheet out of 7. The teams had to settle for a point each. Final score, 0-0.