2016 Riga Tournament 5-a-side Football Tournament Tour Report Cup Semi Finals

Results

L'Albiceleste (Fra)	6	V	0	FC Dad (Eng)
CAP FC (Eng)	2	v	2*	Leilupe (Lat)
* Leilupe (Lat) won 3-2 on penalties.

We were at the 2016 Riga Tournament Cup Semi-Final stage and from the 24 teams who started the day we were down to the final 4 – already an achievement for those who were still in the hunt for glory. The first Cup Semi-Final would see L'Albiceleste versus FC Dad.

L'Albiceleste begun the day slowly with defeat but since then they had won 4 and drawn 1 with a penalty shoot-out victory over Melee FC seeing them through to this Semi-Final. This was to be their third Cup Semi-Final in eurofootballfives.com action. They lost their first, 1-0, to Ireland's Mestallaban at the 2012 Valencia Fives. They won the other won, 4-2, at the 2013 Mallorca Fives.

FC Dad I am sure won't mind us saying were the surprise package of the tournament. They were living the dream today and had surged past their previous tournament best. They were now only 1 win away from a Cup Final and 2 wins away from a European title. Could the dream continue?

It was the French side who took the early lead in just the second minute as Fateh Bekhouche put his team ahead. Just a minute later Cedric Castarede made it 2-0 and FC Dad had a mountain to climb. If they had taken the lead they could have made it really difficult for their opponents as they did with Cruz Del Sur A but coming from behind would be a whole different kettle of fish. Cedric Castarede scored again before half-time and L'Albiceleste looked like they were on course for the Final.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first and the fourth goal was a killer blow. It was scored by French goalkeeper Mickael Martin who lobbed the FC Dad goalkeeper from inside his own box – a strike of almost 40 yards. Stuart Leslie was the man in goal for FC Dad who was no stranger to a goalkeeper scoring as he had done so at the Valencia Fives previously. He was on the receiving end this time. Further goals from Antoine Loscul and Thibault Kerouredan sealed a 6-0 win for L'Albiceleste.

It was arguably a game too far for FC Dad but what a tournament they had had. I am sure they will have fond memories of the 2016 Riga Tournament.

So, who would take their place in the Final from the second Semi-Final? The two teams set to do battle were CAP FC against Leilupe.

This would be a battle between two unbeaten teams and would be a tough one to call. CAP FC game into the game with 3 wins and 3 draws today and a scalp that included L'Albiceleste who they would meet in the Final should they get through this fixture. The Quarter-Final win over FK Prienai Lithuania was also an impressive win.

Leilupe were absolutely flying today. They had played 6 and won 6. They had scored a phenomenal 25 goals in those games and conceded just 5. They recorded an emphatic 7-1 win in the last round and their record would make them favourites for this fixture.

It all seemed to be going to plan for Leilupe who took the lead in the opening period when Helder Goncalves scored his eighth of the tournament. It was good enough to give his team the lead at the interval. CAP FC roared back in the second period as goals from Richard Beet and Patrick Townson turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 lead. It was the fifth goal of the day for each of the men on target.

It looked like CAP FC were en route to the Cup Final and about to set-up a rematch of the very first game in Group A but Leilupe had other ideas. In the last minute with the goalkeeper up, Leilupe scrambled home an equalizer at the death – there were shouts of handball but nothing given. It was goalkeeper Pablo Asensi who was the hero – he had taken his team into a penalty shoot-out where he would hope to be the hero again.

It would be CAP FC to shoot first in the penalty shoot-out. Their first two penalties were taken by their main strikes of the day. Richard Beet and Patrick Townson continued their habit of finding the back of the net by converting both. Leilupe FC were equally accurate with theirs as Carlos Chillon and Miguel Ferreira levelled up at 1-1 and 2-2 respectively. So, 2-2 at full-time and 2-2 in the shoot-out – we were now in sudden death territory.

Someone had to miss at some stage and Miks Fogels was the unfortunate man for CAP FC as Pablo Asensi made the save. It meant Sergio Neves stepped forward to win it for Leilupe. He despatched it and his team celebrated – they were through.

We thank CAP FC for participating in the tournament and congratulations on a very good debut. We hope you will join us again at another tournament in the future.

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