As the 2019 Mallorca Fives Cup Quarter-Finals were about to get underway we were down to the elite 8 teams in the tournament. We had five nationalities in with a chance of glory – Ecuador, England (x2), France, Portugal and Spain (x3) were all gunning for tournament success.

We started on Pitch A with Naranjitos versus Deddington Sea Men. Naranjitos had won Group A with 4 wins and 1 draw from their 5 games. They were the fourth top scorers, had the fourth best defence and the fourth best goal difference of all the 19 teams from the morning group phase. This was the fourth time they had qualified for the Cup in 9 tournaments.

Deddington Sea Men had enjoyed a mixed day so far. It was a group of two halves from them – 9 points from 9 in their first 3 games, 1 point from 9 in their last 3 games. Could they regain that early form?

They scored first which certainly would have helped. Luc Thornton grabbed the goal. The lead was wiped out almost instantly though as David Moya Aparicio scored his eighth goal of the day. It was 1-1 at half-time.

After the break David Moya Aparicio made it 2-1 to Naranjitos and you could be forgiven for thinking that maybe that. Deddington Sea Men had a partisan crowd behind them though and cheered on they equalized through Simon Hall. It got even better for the English team when Mark Cook made it 3-2 for a sensational win.

Quarter-Final three saw Urbansport of Spain take on Hellgarve Kraken's of Portugal.

These were two teams familiar to our tournaments. In 2017, Urbansport won the Cup Final (playing as Valecuatro). In June 2017, they won the Plate Final (playing as Inter Balear). In May 2018 they missed out on the Cup but returned to Cup action in September 2018 where they lost to eventual winners Bar Maruru, 2-1. They could potentially set up a re-match of that in the Cup Final here today.

Hellgarve Kraken's had now qualified for the Cup for the fourth time in 6 tournaments. They won our 2015 Algarve Open but had Quarter-Final defeats at the 2018 Algarve Open and 2018 Barcelona Fives. Could they get past Urbansport and reach a second Cup Semi-Final?

The game itself here was dominated by the two defences and the two goalkeepers. Neither team was able to find a successful path to goal and so we would have our first penalty shoot-out of the day.

It was Hellgarve Kraken's who emerged victorious as Urbansport were unable to find a way past Joao Dias in the Portuguese goal even from the penalty spot. Their first penalty hit the bar and the second was well saved by Joao Dias. Whilst Urbansport were unable to score from the spot, Hellgarve Kraken's penalty takers couldn't miss. Honorato Ricardo and Hugo Xavier both scored to secure safe passage to the Semi-Finals.

The final Quarter-Final was Ecuador 100% versus Lanky Londoners. In theory this should be the closest of all the Quarter-Finals as it was the two second placed teams in the 6-team groups.

Ecuador 100% were the joint top scoring team in the group phase with 18 goals but they did also leak a few with 8 conceded. Lanky Londoners had proved to be much stronger defensively with just 2 conceded – the joint best defence in the tournament. At the other end they were not as prolific as their opponents with 6 goals scored.

If they could keep this game tight you would fancy Lanky Londoners. If it was an open expansive game then the pendulum may well swing towards the Ecuadorians. The first half was tight and we reached the break level at 1-1. Jon opened the scoring for Ecuador 100% before Jack Stratt levelled it up for Lanky Londoners.

Jack Stratt then scored with a terrific finish for Lanky Londoners to put them 2-1 up at the start of the second half. Jose Mosquera then restored parity for Ecuador 100% who regained the lead when Jose Mosquera added his second of the game. Mosquera had come on as substitute for Ecuador 100% and it was his introduction that really swung the game in his team's favour and not just because of the goals scored. They looked a different team with him on the pitch.

The killer goal may well have been Alfredo Mileles' that put Ecuador 100% 4-2 up. Ecuador 100% then extended the lead to 6-2 with Mosquera going on to complete a hat-trick and also hitting the bar at the end for good measure. The final word went to Sam Twyman though whose strong shot made it 6-3 with muted celebrations.

For Lanky Londoners there was no disgrace in losing to such strong opposition. On another day, at another tournament they could well have gone all the way.