A very warm welcome to Lisbon for the 7th edition of the Lisbon Tournament. It was a glorious day to play 5-a-side football under the Portuguese sun. With 22-teams assembled representing Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Northern Ireland, Poland and Portugal it was set to be a fantastic day of international competition.

First up in Group A was Indoor Gent (Bel) versus Southgate FMU (Eng). These were two experienced teams in our tournament as both sides were making a 5th appearance in eurofootballfives.com competition. The two teams had met before at the 2019 Algarve Open where a 1-0 victory for Indoor Gent saw them finish third in the table and three points ahead of their opponents.

It looked like it might be a case of history repeating itself as Indoor Gent went 1-0 up in this one. Jens Schollier was the man to open the Belgian account this morning. The margin of victory was greater for Indoor Gent here in Lisbon as Jens Schollier added a second for 2-0. Alejandro Goemans scored to make it 3-0 and Mo Zemouri increased the lead to 4-0. Alejandro Goemans second of the game to complete a 5-0 win as they got off to a flyer.

Southgate FMU had selection problems prior to kick-off due to injuries and this result may have added insult to injury. However, there was no shame in losing to a good team from Belgium who had reached two Cup Finals in our tournaments before.

The final team in Group A to get their campaign underway was Los Swallacticos (NI) versus Indoor Gent (Bel).

We are delighted to welcome back the 2013 Barcelona Fives winners - Los Swallacticos. They made their eurofootballfives.com debut at the 2013 Barcelona Fives and what a debut it was! They finished joint top of their group (2nd on goal difference) to qualify for the Cup. They then secured 3-1 wins over Team Maverick in the QF and Elcombe Old Boys in the SF before seeing off Melee FC 1-0 in the Cup Final.

At the 2014 Barcelona Fives they again finished 2nd in their group to qualify for the Cup as they looked to defend their title. A feisty 2-1 Quarter-Final victory over West One Three saw them meet Tinniedad & Tobacco in the Semi-Finals. They scored a last minute equalizer to take the game to penalties which they one, 3-2. In the Cup Final they met Monexy of Ukraine where they lead 2-1 and could have been a man up if the ref had produced a red card for a professional foul by the Ukraine goalkeeper. It was not to be though and Monexy hit back to claim the title 3-2.

They had a hat-trick of visits to Barcelona when they competed in 2016. They were drawn in Group D which featured a really strong Red Light Runners team who won all 7 of their group games. Los Swallacticos finished in third (of 8 teams) with 3 wins and 3 draws to their name plus a goal difference of 12-3. They qualified for the Plate where they played New Zealand's Skackney FC. The game resulted in a 2-2 draw but the Kiwis went through 3-2 on pens.

Here in Lisbon it was Indoor Gent who opened the scoring thanks to Alejandro Goemans. Los Swallacticos hit back though thanks to a goal by Michael McCourt. With a game already under their belts, Indoor Gent were in the groove and when they went 2-1 up (Alejandro Goemans) they pulled away from their opponents. Jens Schollier made it 3-1 before Alejandro Goemans completed his hat-trick. Mo Zemouri and Robin Bogaert also found the net as Indoor Gent ran out 6-1 winners.

Southgate FMU were next in action on Pitch A as they entertained AFC Blue Boys. Both teams started were looking to avenge opening game defeats and kick on with a victory here.

AFC Blue Boys (Pol) made their debut at the 2021 Barcelona Fives. They had a tough start against the 2015 Barcelona champions Club Esportiu Llefia and suffered 5-1 defeat. They bounced back with a 2-2 draw against Sharks (Spa) to get their first points on the board. In the next game against Son Les Onze (Spa) they slipped to a 2-0 defeat. They finished the group phase on a high as they defeated England's FC Dad 2-0 to claim third place in the group and progress to the Plate. They made it 2 wins out of 2 with a stunning win over 2018 Amsterdam Fives champions, Epsilon Rovers. It was not only a win but a comprehensive 3-0 victory. In the Plate Final they met FC Maroon and although they fell behind they recovered to draw 1-1 and take the game to penalties. Sadly for them, they missed out on glory though as they lost 2-1 on spot kicks.

Could they bounce back from opening game defeat like they did in Barcelona? They started off well enough with their #20 putting them 1-0 up. Southgate County hit back though thanks to a strike from Jack Clark. It got even better for the English team when they forged ahead thanks to a goal from Jon Cerveno. It was a vital goal as it proved to be the winning goal as Southgate FMU claimed their first 3 points of the day.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group A was to be RAF1 versus Los Swallacticos.

RAF1 were making their 7th eurofootballfives.com appearance and their second in Lisbon. That previous Lisbon appearance was in April 2019 when they played as Hellgarve's Kraken. They performed well and finished joint second in the table on 11 points from 6 games (3 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat). They were level with 2017 champions Pangare Futebol Clube (Bra) but were third on goal difference and missed out on the Cup. They were brilliant in the Plate competition with 6-1, 2-0 and 3-1 victories taking them to victory.

With a 1-0 win in their opening game they were now 9 games unbeaten in our Lisbon tournaments. Could Los Swallacticos be the team to end that record? If so, they would have to come from behind as Jaime opened the scoring for the Portuguese team. RAF1 extedned their lead to 2-0 thanks to a goal from Tiago Nogueira. Los Swallacticos had a mountain to climb and if that mountain was K2 it became Everest when Nogueira scored his second of the game to make it 3-0.

2 wins out of 2 for RAF1, 2 defeats out of 2 for Los Swallacticos.