We were down to our final 4 teams in the Plate competition. We had four different countries competing for glory with CIS, France, Poland and Spain still in the mix. The first Semi-Final would see FC Tpaktop versus World Pinteur.

FC Tpaktop would have been disappointed to not be in the Cup as they were in the qualification places right up until the final group game which they narrowly lost 1-0 and they slipped two places to third and the Plate. FC Tpaktop had appeared in three semi-finals before in our tournaments (including the Veterans today) so were hoping to break the curse and reach a first final in our events.

World Pinteur hadn't conceded a goal in their group until they met Ecuador 100% in their final game. They lost it and finished fourth – it's a pretty tough and ruthless task this football business. In fact two of their games had ended 0-0 so it was perhaps no surprise to see this game also finish 0-0.

A penalty shootout would be required to settle this one which should strike fear into World Pinteur as they had now lost all four of their penalty shoot-outs in our tournaments and failing to score in three of them. If they had known this FC Tpaktop may have fancied their chances but World Pinteur appeared to pass the baton on to their opponents.

World Pinteur scored all 3 of their penalties (Benoit Botteau, Eric Lemoisson & Aurelien Ludot) whilst FC Tpaktop missed all 3 of theirs (Petr Tolmanov, Timur Garifzyanov & Leonid Sislo). It was a fourth Semi-Final defeat for FC Tpaktop in the cruelest of fashions.

Who would join World Pinteur in the Plate Final? The two teams set to do battle were Urbansport and AFC Blue Boys.

Urbansport were unlucky to miss out on the Cup due to goal difference which was ultimately due to Polonia Limerick pulling off a sensational win against Ecuador 100%.

These two teams had met before in the group phase of the 2022 Mallorca Fives. On that occasion AFC Blue Boys won it 1-0 with a goal from Artur Sukiennik who was playing for their Veterans team today. Despite that defeat Urbansport would go on and reach the Plate Final in 2022 and they were one win away from reaching a second Plate Final in a row.

The two teams were closely matched 12 months ago and they were closely matched again today. In fact there was nothing to separate the two teams at half-time, 0-0. After the break Thiago broke the deadlock and put Urbansport ahead. It proved to be the only goal of the game and the only goal of both Semi-Finals in normal time. The goal was Thiago's 8th goal of the day and he was riding high in the top goalscorer charts.

Sadly for AFC Blue Boys it was a semi-final exit but it was another great weekend for them particularly in the Veterans section.

Open Age

(For the Veterans, click introduction and then select the relevant Veterans section)