Group B kicked off on Pitch B where Dragon Balls returned to eurofootballfives.com action against Red Cow Belgrade (more on them later).

Dragon Balls debuted at the 2019 Gdansk Tournament. They started off well with a 3-0 win over Pink Lloyd A and Alea Iacta Est. A 1-0 loss to RAF Boulmer B checked their progress and they couldn't respond as they fell to another defeat (2-0) to Rain Dragons. A 0-0 draw stopped the rot against Finland's TaHU before finishing off with a 3-0 win against TS Marpoli. They finished in fourth position of their 7 team table to qualify for the Plate. In the Quarter-Finals they defeated The Post Office (3-0) and then drew 1-1 with Pink Lloyd A in the Semi-Finals. The game went to penalties and they reached the final 3-1 on spot kicks. It was a close final but they missed out on success as DDCH chalked up a 1-0 final win.

Here in Warsaw it was honours even as the two teams fought out a tight 0-0 draw. Congratulations to goalkeeper's Michal Baldyga and to Dom Leonard for keeping clean sheets – especially the latter who saved a penalty.

The last team to get their campaign underway was FC Maroon as they took on Dragon Balls.

FC Maroon most recent appearance in our tournaments was at the 2019 Barcelona Fives and began well with a 1-0 win over VNV (NL) and a 1-1 draw against Bracknell Vets (Eng). Their third game was the stuff of legend, a simply sensational 1-0 win over Greek team Sintetrimeni. The Greek side went on to win the tournament. From the sublime to the ridiculous as FC Maroon lost 2-1 to the bottom team Footballab, a hangover maybe from their efforts in the Greek win. A 2-0 defeat to Northern Town in the final group game saw them finish third in the table and qualify for the Plate. The Quarter-Final saw them drawn against Paralytic Athletic where they were eliminated on penalties after a 0-0 draw.

Dragon Balls had already got underway today and picked up a 0-0 draw. It was to be déjà vu for them as they played out another goal-less draw. Slow and steady for Dragon Balls. A solid start for FC Maroon.

Red Cow Belgrade were next in action on Pitch B as they entertained Spider Mans & Eagle. These two teams had a combined 22 eurofootballfives.com tournament appearances between them.

Spider Mans & Eagle were making a 12 th appearance in our tournaments which is the 4th best in our history after DHL Prague (Cze), GBS Reds (Cze) & Budapest Celtic (Hun). Their most successful appearance to date was in Poland at the 2016 Krakow Trophy. They were impressive from the very start as they won all 5 of their group games scoring an amazing 23 goals in the process and conceding just 3. They beat Italy's Football Bassano MMIII in the Quarter-Finals and their own sister squad, Spider Mans & Great Hawk, in the Semi-Finals. It set up an epic battle in the Cup Final against Tinniedad & Tobacco which was won 5-2 by the Tins. Could they go one step further in Warsaw?

They lost their first game so needed to bounce back and they did so in the first half thanks to a Richard Eggleston goal – his 24th in our tournaments. Red Cow Belgrade kicked off the second half needing to get back on terms to avoid their first defeat of the day. Joe Howitt, their leading scorer in eurofootballfives.com competition, duly obliged with an equalizer to make it 1-1.

At the full time whistle it was honours even. Spider Mans & Eagle had their first point on the board. Red Cow Belgrade had two draws in two games.

The game that took us to the halfway stage of Group B was to be FC Foreigntina (Pol) versus FC Maroon (Eng). FC Foreigntina were looking to make it two wins out of two whilst FC Maroon were aiming to build on an opening point.

The first half was a stalemate as the two teams changed ends level at 0-0. The deadlock was broken after the interval by FC Maroon's Max Hill. His goal, straight from the horse's mouth:

“ After the ball fumbled by the opposition player, Max Hill (Maroon captain, top goal scorer for the last 2 tours and soon to be 3rd tour, full of protein form his petrol station hot dog), pounced on the loose ball just outside his box and rifled the ball in to the opposition net. A ball struck with such venom, it ripped the netting and left the goal keeper dumbfounded. As Max shot, the 3 victoria secret models that were walking past the pitches all remarked on how good looking Max was yet somehow humble, as he jogged off the pitch as part of his celebration to finalise the build of the orphanage he had commissioned. A true god amongst pitiful men whom he had carried through the tournament.”

FC Maroon were not done there as Max Hill continues “Ed Bragwin fumbled a ball in for the 2nd but no one cared, having just seen the goal of the tour.”

The result meant FC Maroon climbed above their opponents and into top spot at the halfway stage.