Group C began with Return of the Dancing Horses III versus Samurai Japan. Return of the Dancing Horses III were making their debut so we eagerly awaited their first performance. We knew a little more about Samurai Japan though who were making their second eurofootballfives.com appearance. They made their debut in the 2010 Valencia Fives and were hugely impressive. They won their group with 3 wins and a draw before a convincing 5-0 Quarter Final victory. We thought they could potentially go all the way to the title but lost 3-0 in the Semi Final. A scoreline that flattered their opposition with late goals as Samurai Japan pushed for an equalizer.

It was the Japanese who opened the scoring in this game as Hitoshi Saiki found the back of the net. It was 1-0 at half-time to Samurai Japan as the Dancing Horses were just about containing their opponents. In the second half the free-flowing attacking football of Samurai Japan and the incisive finishing of Saiki meant they ran out 4-0 victors. Saiki completed a hat-trick and Yukio Mori also scored.

It was a tough opening game for the Dancing Horses squad but they had now gained a little eurofootballfives experience to take into their next 3 group games.

Next up on Pitch D was Drunk Perfect versus El A Dees. Drunk Perfect were captained by Bjorn Lofgren – who had already played in the 2011 Budapest Fives this season with his Swedish squad A Magyar Pekseg. This time he brought a multinational squad to the tournament playing under the banner of ‘Spain' as the team was all Barcelona based. They met El A Dees who were making their eurofootballfives debut although captain Gaz Lawrence had some European experience recently playing in Germany.

It was an entertaining game and closely fought contest. At half-time honours were even as goals from Gaz Lawrence and Dmitri Hubert ensured parity for their respective sides at 1-1. In the second half Oliver Woody put El A Dees 2-1 up and it looked for all the world it would be the winning goal. However, they had not counted on Dmitri Hubert who scored a wonder goal to equalize – dancing through tackles before slotting home from a tight angle. The game finished 2-2 and it was a solid start from both teams.

The last team to get underway on Pitch D in Group C was HMS Sultan FC. They would start with a game against Return of the Dancing Horses III who had already had a game to warm up and were looking to bounce back from opening game defeat.

The two teams matched each other blow for blow and when the interval came the teams were level at 0-0 and no-one could really argue against that. Both teams put a lot into the game and were deserving of taking something out of it. Ultimately only one team would emerge with all three points and that team would be HMS Sultan FC.

Jason Biddulph was the man who took the plaudits with the strike but it was cruel luck on the Dancing Horses and goalkeeper Scott Howe in particular. Whilst well struck the shot took a wicked deflection, wrong-footing Howe and giving him absolutely no chance as the ball hit the back of the net.

It was a tough pill to swallow as it left the Dancing Horses pointless. HMS Sultan FC were up and running.

The next game in Group C was Samurai Japan against Drunk Perfect. Drunk Perfect had a point on the board and a tough task to add to that in this fixture against Samurai Japan who were imperious in their first game. With four goals without reply in that fixture, the Japanese continued their form into this match and surged into a 2-0 lead by the break.

There was no respite for Drunk Perfect in the second period either as the goals kept on flowing. Hitoshi Saiki hit his second hat-trick in as many games to top the goal-scoring charts with 6. There was another two goals for Yukio Mori and a first goal of the day for captain Gaku Sato. There was something of a consolation for Drunk Perfect as Dmitri Hubert scored his third of the competition but he could do nothing to prevent a 6-1 defeat for his team. Samurai Japan had a maximum 6 points and were looking impressive. All was not lost for Drunk Perfect with two games to go.

El A Dees were looking to build upon an opening game draw and take victory in their second fixture against HMS Sultan FC. The latter already had a win under their belts and could join Samurai Japan at the top with victory here. To add a bit of spice to the game, El A Dees captain Gaz Lawrence is an Army man and as the name suggests, HMS Sultan FC, were a team representing the Navy.

It was Gaz Lawrence who would be the happier as his team forged ahead and led 2-0 by the break thanks to goals from Chris Lawless and Nathan Rooks. Could the HMS Sultan lads hit back in the second-half? If they were to do so they would need to do it from 3-0 down as James Staz increased the lead for El A Dees and it was to be an inpenetrable lead.

The final score was 3-0 and El A Dees jumped into 2nd place with HMS Sultan FC tucked in just behind them in 3rd.