2011 Prague 5-a-side Football Tournament Tour Report Group A Round 1

Results

GBS Reds (Cze)	5	v	2	Team Also-Ran (Ire)
Deportivo (Cze)	1	V	0	It's Back (Eng)
FC Dad (Eng)	1	v	1	AC Lesk (Eng)

Our 9th Prague football tournament, The 2011 Prague Masters, kicked off in traditional fashion with Group A and some familiar faces to eurofootballfives.com were in action in the opening round of fixtures.

First up on Pitch A was Czech side GBS Reds (formally playing as JNJ Global Services) who were making eurofootballfives.com appearance number 7 following four Prague appearances to go with participation in the 2010 Krakow Trophy and 2011 Amsterdam Fives. Having reached 3 successive Plate Semi-Finals, they finally conquered this hurdle last time out in the 2010 Prague Trophy when they claimed the Plate Trophy. Most recently they elevated their progress to reach the Cup Quarter-Finals in Amsterdam.

The team charged with stopping GBS Reds continued improvement was Ireland's Team Also-Ran. In stark contrast to the experience of the local side, Team Also-Ran were making their eurofootballfives debut. How would they fare in their first taste of action?

The first half was quite tight with just one goal separating the two sides and it was GBS Reds' Vincent Solem who scored the first goal in Group A. In the second half the local side eased away from their opponents as Josef Salatek (2), Ian Smitton and Wilco Veldhuizen all got on the scoresheet. It wasn't one way traffic though as Shane Murphy scored Team Also-Ran's first of the day plus they were aided by a GBS own goal. Final score, 5-2.

Next up was Deportivo against It's Back. Deportivo make it appearance number 3 after playing in both the 2010 Prague Masters and 2010 Prague Trophy. In the former they reached the Cup Semi-Finals before being dismissed by 2-time eurofootballfives winners Lozenetz City of Bulgaria. They then claimed victory in the 2010 Prague Trophy – could they make it victory number two this year?

It would be a tough start for Deportivo against It's Back who made their debut in the 2010 Barcelona Fives where they finished second in their 6-team group before being knocked out 2-1 by eventual champions Magic Monkeys. They will be another team with high hopes in Prague.

The game proved to be a tight contest and we reached the half-time interval level at 0-0 with neither team finding the route to goal. In the end it would be one goal that would decide this tie and it went in favour of the local side as Deportivo's hopes of a second successive title started well thanks to an Andres Caballero strike.

The final two teams in the opening round of fixtures began their campaign with both teams were making their debuts. Those teams in question were FC Dad and AC Lesk – these games are obviously hard to call as we have not seen the teams in action before. It is an ideal opportunity for the teams to lay down a marker and send out a message to the other teams in their group.

It was FC Dad who drew first blood when James Roden gave them a first-half lead. It was a lead they held for some time and it was in the second half that we saw the games' second goal which came from Tom Oakey of AC Lesk to level things up. It was a valuable equaliser as it earned his team a point. At the final whistle honours were even, 1-1.

Table

Team	Pld	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Agst	Pts
GBS Reds (Cze)	1	1	0	0	5	2	3
Deportivo (Cze)	1	1	0	0	1	0	3
AC Lesk (Eng)	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
FC Dad (Eng)	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
It's Back (Eng)	1	0	0	1	0	1	0
Team Also-Ran (Ire)	1	0	0	1	2	5	0

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