Group B began with Green Man FC from taking on McArthurs Big Macs – the second of the three Saltford FC teams to get underway today.

Green Man FC are the team formerly known as Stanford FC. They made an impressive debut at the 2013 Barcelona Fives finishing second in their group and narrowly missing out on Cup qualification. They went through to the Plate where Alphasights dismissed them 3-1 in the Quarter-Finals. They next played in the 2014 Budapest Fives and found the group phase tough going as they qualified for the Trophy. A 3-1 Quarter-Final exit befell them to FC Maroon. It was a below par performance compared to their debut in Barcelona. Their next, and most recent visit, was also at the Mallorca Tournament in 2015.

In June 2015, they lost just once in 5 group games (1-0 to 2011 winners Policia Local) but too many draws hindered their progress up the Group B table. Their results included draws against the eventual winners Saipan FC and the 2016 Plate winners, We've Got Wood. Amazingly, even with just 1 defeat they finished 5th of 6 teams in the table. It must have been quite demoralising and they then went out in the Plate Quarter-Finals to Wrexham Rednecks.

It looked like Green Man FC might be on a similar run of close but no cigar. After a goal-less first half they slipped to a narrow 1-0 loss against McArthur's Big Macs.

It was a perfect start for the McArthur's Big Macs in Europe! Sam Clarke with the honour of scoring their first goal on the continent.

Next up was supposed to be the highly experienced Policia Local who played in our very first tournament here in 2011 (and won it) against an inexperienced team making their European debut – Wilmslow Whoppers.

The Police team (which is always subject to shift patterns deciding its team) had to pull out the day before the tournament. They were replaced in the tournament draw by Inter Balear – another experienced and successful team in our tournaments. In 2015 (as Seleccion Balear) they won the Plate and just 3 weeks ago (as Valecuatro) they won the 2017 Mallorca Fives title.

Traditionally Inter Balear had been slow starters and in fact they had lost both their opening fixtures on their previous appearances – 3-0 to ZVC Indoor Gent (Bel) and 2-0 Mannenliefde (Hol). How would they fare against English opposition first up?

Not too well is the answer but we don't think it was a case of a slow start as they probably would have lost this one at any time of day. Wilmslow Whoppers put on a great showing and Jamie Frost in particular made his mark on the tournament. He bagged all 4 goals in a 4-1 win. What a way to kick-off your campaign!

Game 3 of Group B saw Spanish team Son Gual taking on Southgate County. Both teams had previous eurofootballfives.com experience – we'll preview Son Gual here and Southgate County in Round 2.

Son Gual (Spa) were making their sixth appearance at the Mallorca Tournament. They had a tough introduction at the 2012 Mallorca Tournament as they were drawn in a group with 2 previous eurofootballfives.com winners (2 x winners Inter Women and 4 x winners Olympic Phil Babb). They finished 4th in their 6 team group to qualify for the Plate Quarter-Finals where they exited 4-2 at the hands of Whiteley Stags. In the Mallorca Fives of May 2013 they also finished 4th in a group that contained 2 previous eurofootballfives.com winners (Skidmarks and Policia Mallorca) and went on to the Plate competition – which they won! They followed this up at the Mallorca Tournament of June 2013 by finishing 3rd in their 6-team group. They qualified for the Plate again and won their Quarter-Final 4-2 against Whiteley Bad Boys before a 2-1 Semi-Final defeat to Have Ago Heroes. 2014 saw another 4 th -placed finish in the group before a 3-1 Plate Quarter-Final defeat to Brioche. 2015 was their most successful tournament to date as they won Group A with 13 points from a possible 15. They then exited at the Quarter-Final stage, 2-1, at the hands of Policia Local.

The teams reached the interval with Southgate County holding a 2-1 lead. Neil Spackman and Simon Hicks outgunned the strike from Ryan. Son Gual were a team of largely South American origin and so the English ex-pat took on the one name moniker of his fellow team-mates.

There was to be no comeback for Son Gual in the second half as Southgate County held onto their 2-1 lead and claimed all 3 points.