2013 Mallorca 5-a-side Football Tournament Report Cup Semi Finals

Results

Grant Thornton (Fra)	4	v	2	FC Miracle (Hun)
East Compton Eagles (Eng)	1	v	3	Skidmarks (Eng)

As the 2013 Mallorca Fives Cup Semi-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 4 teams in the tournament with teams from England, France and Hungary all still in the hunt for glory.

First up was Grant Thornton versus FC Miracle as the Group A winners took on the Group B Runners-up. Grant Thornton had produced the best record of any team in the group stage and were the form team of the tournament in that respect. FC Miracle were 2012 Valencia Fives champions and had recovered from opening game defeat to win 3 out of their next four games. Both teams had played in Valencia but never met. If Grant Thornton had won their Semi-Final against Ireland's Mestallaban in Valencia this could have been a repeat of the 2012 Valencia Fives Final.

We expected a close game with little between the sides and it didn't quite go like that. FC Miracle had the better first haf and opened up a 2-0 lead through Zoltan Kedves and Janos Molnar. They were in a strong position and it looked like a second successive eurofootballfives.com final was in their grasp.

The Plate Semi-Finals had shown that the 2013 Mallorca Fives was becoming a tournament for comebacks and Grant Thornton continued that trend. Cedric Casterede reduced the deficit to 2-1 and scored again for 2-2. The French team were flying at this stage and Casterede completed a superb hat-trick for 3-2 with a top quality goal. One on one with the Hungarian goalkeeper he rolled his right foot over the ball to drag it round the goalkeeper before coolly finishing with his left in the empty net. Fateh Bekhouche then sealed a fine comeback and a fine win with his fourth goal of the tournament. Final score, 4-2.

It was farewell to FC Miracle for today and the second time they had gone out to French opposition in a Cup Semi-Final (1-0 to CFC A in 2012 Algarve Open). FC Miracle have a fine eurofootballfives.com record of 2 Cup SF, 1 Cup 2nd place and 1 Cup win in 4 tournaments.

So, who would meet Grant Thornton in the Cup Final? The only thing we knew was that it would be an English team as East Compton Eagles versus Skidmarks. Both teams had a 100% record of reaching Cup Semi-Finals in our tournaments but with mixed results – Skidmarks 2 wins out of 2 (Valencia, Krakow), East Compton Eagles 1 defeat in 1 (Berlin).

Skidmarks would clearly love that run to continue but they didn't get off to the best of starts as they conceded an early penalty which Rich Manns converted for a 1-0 Eagles lead. It was his 6th goal of the day and as things stood he was joint top goalscorer with Cedric Castarede (Grant Thornton) for the tournament.

Skidmarks then showed why they are two-times eurofootballfives.com champions as they put in a sensational burst to turn this match around. Seb Palin equalized and then ahead with two quickfire goals to put him on 5 for the tournament. East Compton Eagles were rocking a little at this stage and were soon to be 3-1 down as Neil Taylor made it 3-1 when he thumped home from the edge of the box. The half-time whistle blew and a great first half we had.

The second half was more sedate and it later emerged that Skidmarks had a tactic to man-mark Sean McCullough as they identified him as the creative hub of the Eagles team. It seemed to work as Skidmarks were able to maintain their 3-1 lead through to the final whistle and made it a hat-trick of Cup Semi-Final victories.

We sadly had to say goodbye to East Compton Eagles for another season. In the 2012 Berlin Fives they were superb in the group stages before a self-proclaimed disappointing Semi-Final performance and they would probably say much the same here (although much credit to their opposition). We hope it's third time lucky next time out and they reach that maiden Cup Final!

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