2018 Mallorca Fives 5-a-side Tournament Tour Report Cup Final

Results

Renshaw (Eng)

Inter Hoddesdon (Eng)

After 35 games of football we came down to the most important of them all. Game 36 – The 2018 Mallorca Fives Cup Final. The two teams set to do battle for the honour and glory of victory were Renshaw and Inter Hoddesdon.

This would be the first ever England versus England final in our Mallorca tournaments dating back to the inaugural event in 2011. In the 9 previous Cup Finals we have had winners from Spain (x4), England (x3), Ireland (x1) and France (x1). Would it be Renshaw or Inter Hoddesdon adding their name to the list?

If you had been watching the Cup Semi-Finals you woud certainly put Inter Hoddesdon favourites. They demolished Inter Balear (who were our winners here 12 months ago as Valecuatro) 7-0 with a record Mallorca Cup Semi-Final win.

Inter Hoddesdon were our top-scoring team so far with 20 goals, goalkeeper Angelo Cappalonga had the most clean sheets in the tournament with 4, they boasted the tournament top scorer Toby Cleaver (12 goals so far), had the joint best defence with Bar Maruru (just 3 conceded) and had the best goal difference in the tournament (+17).

That was the size of the task facing Renshaw but anything is possible in our tournaments. Just 2 weeks ago at our 2018 Riga Tournament, Riga United were overwhelming favourites in the Cup Final against Deddington Sea Badgers (who they beat 9-3 in the group) but it was Deddington who picked up the title.

Renshaw had been very impressive in matching Bar Maruru (who had been the top team in the group phase) in the Cup Semi-Final and they were equally as competitive here in the Cup Final – for the first half at least. Only one goal separated the two teams at half time. Sam Hoxhaj scored the goal and Inter Hoddesdon lead 1-0.

There were shades of the Plate Final in this game. Algaiga Golf scored two quickfire goals to see off Multiple Scorgasms in the Plate whilst two quickfire goals from Inter Hoddesdon killed off the Renshaw challenge at the start of the second half here in the Cup Final. Toby Cleaver scored them both to finish with 14 for the tournament and pick-up the golden boot award – many congratulations to him.

Inter Hoddesdon were not yet done. Sam Hoxhaj scored his second of the game and 8th of the tournament to make it 4-0. Conor Glass would have the final word in the goal-scoring stakes as he netted a consolation for Renshaw and spoiled Angelo Cappalonga's hopes of a fifth clean sheet.

Then in the final minute we had some pure theatre – Angelo Cappalonga came up for a corner and as a cross found himself unmarked at the far post he almost produced a “Van Basten” (albeit from the other side) as his cleanly struck (and goal-bound) volley was deflected on to the post by a defender. If you can recall Steve Bould chipping it over the top for Tony Adams to volley home against Everton to encapsulate Arsenal's 1998 title win under Arsene Wenger, then Cappalonga's volley would surely encapsulate Inter Hoddesdon's march to the 2018 Mallorca Fives title. It would have been a fitting moment.

We offer our consolations to Renshaw who were excellent on the day with some memorable wins along the way. They came up against a very good outfit in the Cup Final and hope the runners-up medals will provide a consolation and a memento for your tour.

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

The ultimate honour and the glory for the 2018 Mallorca Fives goes to….

….. Inter Hoddesdon!

Many congratulations on a superb victory on an amazing day of tournament action.

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