Group B kicked off on Pitch B where The Maulers were to take on FC Mahou. The Warriors have been ever-present in our Veterans team since 2015 and today they made their first appearance with two teams – that second team was The Maulers. They would be well aware that their opening fixture was going to be a tough encounter.

FC Mahou were, to date, the only English team to win our June Veterans tournament. This was their 12th appearance in our tournaments overall but their first appearance at our Lisbon event.

FC Mahou began in strong fashion with Michael Brandon opening the scoring before new tour debutant, Ian Raisbeck, doubled the advantage. Goalkeeper Marc Lawrie and his defence kept a clean sheet and, despite a 3 year gap due to the pandemic, FC Mahou quickly returned to winning ways. As they came off the pitch, The Maulers seemed reasonably happy they had kept the score to 2-0.

The last team to get their campaign underway was ACE & The Swagmen as they took on AFC Shooters 1. The group fixtures took on a slightly odd looking order due to the last minute cancellation of CDAL Veteranos (just 2 minutes before tournament kick-off) so we were re-arranging the fixtures as best we could under the circumstances.

ACE & The Swagmen were appearing at our tournament for the fourth time overall and first time in the Veterans. They debuted at the 2012 Budapest Fives, they got off to a flyer scoring in just a matter of seconds in their opening fixture against Csabagyongye before slipping to 3-1 defeat. They ended up winless in the group phase that featured Csabagyongye (2015 Budapest champions). They also played here in Lisbon at our inaugural 2013 tournament. A similar fate befell them in Lisbon in terms of results where they played FC Maroon who incidentally are also playing today in the Open Age section.

At the 2014 Barcelona Fives they drew a pretty tough group that featured the eventual winners Monexy of Ukraine and 2013 Barcelona Fives winners Los Swallactios (Nir). A commendable performance against the latter with just a narrow 2-1 defeat. There were also defeats to SV Zoo (Ger) and Missing Magpies (Eng) meant they would finish 5 th in the group. They met Elcombe Old Boys in the Trophy Quarter Finals which was a tough draw as they would go on to lose against a team who would later win the 2016 Barcelona Fives.

Having won 4-1 last time out we are sure that AFC Shooters 1 would not mind taking that momentum into this game. Stephen Parker scored at the end of that opening game and he had kept his shooting boots on. There was a goal in each half for Parker as he proved to be the match-winner. There was a first clean sheet of the day for Steve Comber and his defence.

FC Mahou were next in action on Pitch 6 as they entertained ACE & The Swagmen.

FC Mahou were competing in the Veterans Tournament for a fourth time. The first time was a hugely successful mission to Mallorca in 2017. There was no question they were worthy winners with 7 wins out of 7 as they roared to the title.

At the 2018 Algarve Veterans Tournament they looked set for another title. They won 4 and drew 2 of their group games as they won Group B. In the Cup Semi-Finals they drew 0-0 with Hungary's FC Miracle but went out 3-2 on penalties.

Last time out in Alicante it was another successful and unbeaten group campaign. They finished joint top on 13 points with Dream Team (Spa), both teams had scored 15 goals but Dream Team conceded one less goal so won the group. FC Mahou went into the Cup competition and met Esparta (Spa) but lost 3-1 to the eventual tournament winners.

Due to this impressive record they were strong favourites to make it 2 wins out of 2 in Group B but ACE & The Swagmen put on a rock solid display. Defences walked off the field on top after a goal-less draw. Congrats to both keepers Marc Lawrie and Will Hall. It was a superb result for ACE & The Swagmen.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group B was to be The Maulers versus Southgate County Brewers. Both teams were looking to avenge opening game defeats. A win for either team would take them up to third in the table and keep them in the hunt for the overall title. A defeat would be damaging in the context of the table but still with time to recover in order to reach the Plate competition.

Southgate County Brewers opened the scoring in the first half for the second game in a row. Neil Spackman was the man on target as his team turned round 1-0 up. Last time out they shipped 4 goals in the second half as they slipped to defeat but in this game they were much more solid. Cliff Lovett and his defence kept out The Maulers attackers as they went on to complete their first win of the day in the Veterans section.