2016 Riga Tournament 5-a-side Football Tournament Tour Report Group D Round 1

Results

RAF Fylingdales (Eng)	1	V	1	Saga Louts (Eng)
Leilupe (Lat)	3	v	0	It's Back (Eng)
Cruz Del Sur B (Eng)	0	v	0	FC Dad (Eng)

Last but not least, we come to Group D where the group began with RAF Fylingdales versus Saga Louts.

RAF Fylingdales (Eng) played in the 2013 Barcelona Fives and drew Group E which featured the Plate winners The Depo All Stars, 2 x Plate Runners-up and 1 time Trophy Runners-up Drunk Perfect, Plate Runners-Up JF and the Pullbacks plus Elcombe Old Boys who have a record of just 2 defeats in 19 games in Barcelona. RAF Fylingdales went out in the Trophy Play-off 3-0 to ADP Dream Team (Spa). It is great to see the team back in Riga for 2016.

We'll preview Saga Louts in more detail later on in Group D. The first game of the day is often described as “the hangover game” as the two teams looked to blow away the cobwebs of a Friday night out on tour. The defenders looked to be on top of their game but maybe the forwards needed a bit more recovery time as defences were on top in the first half. Half-time, 0-0.

We would not have a goal-less draw though as the two teams traded blows in the second half. Larry Moore was on target for the Saga Louts whilst Sean Kirk hit the back of the net for RAF Fylingdales.

The match finished 1-1 and only time would tell if that was a point gained or two points dropped. For now, it was a solid start to the tournament for each.

Match 2 in Group D saw Leilupe (Lat) versus It's Back (Eng).

Leilupe were on eurofootballfives.com debut so we did not know quite what to expect from the home side but It's Back were a familiar sight on the eurofootballfives.com scene.

It's Back are welcomed back as they make appearance #7 in eurofootballfives.com competition. They made their debut in the 2010 Barcelona Fives where they finished second in their 6-team group before being knocked out in the Cup Semi-Finals, 2-1, by eventual champions Magic Monkeys. In the 2011 Prague Masters they reached the Plate Semi-Finals before going down 2-0 to Ireland's Saipan FC (who won the 2015 Mallorca Tournament). Their 3rd appearance was in the 2012 Budapest Fives where they claimed 2 wins, 2 draws and 1 defeat in their group to qualify for the Cup. They went out in the Quarter-Finals to 2009 Barca Fives winners Luminy Wolves of France. The Krakow Trophy was their destination for 2013 and was their least successful on the pitch but did include a sensational comeback from 3-0 down to equalise 3-3 in the last minute of the game in one of the games of the tournament.

At the 2014 Berlin Fives they drew 2 and lost 2 (to the eventual Cup and eventual Plate Runners-Up) before a narrow 2-1 defeat in the Plate Quarter-Finals to the eventual winners Scandittack FC. Last year they competed at the 2015 Lisbon Tournament where they finished 5th in Group D. They drew their Trophy Quarter-Final 1-1 before losing on penalties to Red Cow Belgrade.

From the early stages of this game it was clear that It's Back had been drawn against some high quality opposition. Leilupe were clearly a very good side and It's Back did well to keep them at bay in the first half as the two teams reached the turnaround at 0-0.

In the second period Leilupe's quality came to the fore – Miguel Fontes opened the scoring before Carlos Chillon and Helder Goncalves wrapped up a fine 3-0 victory.

The last two teams to get underway were Cruz Del Sur B (more on them later) versus FC Dad.

FC Dad were making their sixth eurofootballfives appearance in Riga. Prague was the destination for their debut with us where they reached the Plate Quarter-Finals. They followed this up by playing in the 2012 Valencia Fives where they narrowly missed out on glory, losing 3-2 in the Trophy Final. In the 2013 Lisbon Tournament they had a great start with a 2-1 win over Hungary's Csabagyongye before they struggled with results but were not outclassed with two narrow defeats.

They finished 5th in their 6th team group and missed out on the knock-out stage. FC Dad drew a tough group at the 2014 Budapest Fives that featured 2-times eurofootballfives.com winners FC Radbroke and eventual Runners-Up, Argentina. They finished the group phase on a high with a 1-0 win over Old Man Hortor's Revival. They continued their winning form into the Trophy Quarter-Finals with a 2-1 win over RS Ocean Village FC before an exit in the Semi-Finals, 1-0, to Cava Sundays.

At the 2015 Barcelona Fives they started off with a resounding 4-1 win over ABCDE FC before 2 defeats to Spanish and Irish opposition before completing the group with a 1-1 draw that saw them one of four teams separated by just 1 point from 2nd to 5th. They ultimately finished 4th and went through to the Trophy where they went out to FC Seagrave, 2-0.

Goals were conspicuous by their absence as the two teams battled hard without reward in front of goal. Let's give credit to the defences and the goalkeepers for earning their clean sheets and their team a point each. Final score, 0-0.

Table

Team	Pld	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Agst	Pts
Leilupe (Lat)	1	1	0	0	3	0	3
RAF Fylingdales (Eng)	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
Saga Louts (Eng)	1	0	1	0	1	1	1
Cruz Del Sur B (Eng)	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
FC Dad (Eng)	1	0	1	0	0	0	1
It's Back (Eng)	1	0	0	1	0	3	0

Click on links below to proceed to

site disclaimer | contact us