It was the thirteenth LogicaCMG World Cup, but this most superstitious of milestones found the Football Gods belatedly smiling on the English. After a seemingly endless wait, an English team in the shape of the most excellent Reading A side at last lifted the prestigious trophy, and few would deny that they were deserving of the title World Champions. And since it was an impressive London side that they defeated in the Final, whilst the England Lags finally got the better of seven-times winners Italy in the 3rd-4th Place play-off, it turned out to be an unprecedented 1-2-3 for the self-styled and mostly self-deluded inventors of the people’s game.

Once again the tournament could boast to being the biggest yet, with a remarkable 24 teams making their way to the Iberian coast to compete in the thankfully moderate heat. That meant over 300 players plus numerous more spectators gathering for what is surely the largest event in the LogicaCMG sporting calendar. Despite this, some old friends were missing, most notably the teams from Holland, France and Scotland, sadly all unable to qualify for this year’s Finals. But the success of the tournament is partly maintained by the regular injection of new blood, and this year saw debutantes Switzerland go on to make a very favourable impression, as well as returning home with some silverware.

Such popularity, of course, brings with it plenty of organisational head-aches, but the Portuguese Organising Committee were equal to the task, securing the use of the top quality Complexo Desportivo de Vila Real de António in which to play the tournament, along with a raft of luxurious hotels which more than met the demands of the modern international sportsman. For this, and much other diligent organisational hard work, we’re sure that all participants will join with us in saying a "grande obrigado" to Elisabete Silva and Natalia Leite. The feedback from all teams over-whelmingly told of a hugely enjoyable weekend, and that is mostly down to the facilities organised by Elisabete and Natalia.

Group Dynamics

Another side-effect of the ever-increasing World Cup attendance, is the challenge of fitting all the tournament matches into just two days. After much head-scratching in the LIFA Fixtures Dept, a farm of extremely powerful computers calculated that the only way of achieving this on four pitches was to have 8 groups of three teams to determine qualification for the knockout stages. Whilst this provided each team with just two games in which to shape their destiny, it did feed neatly into the traditional three tiers of subsequent knockout competition.

The eight group-winners would go on to play in the main competition for the LogicaCMG World Cup trophy. Meanwhile the eight runners-up would compete for the Tier 2 Plate, and likewise the third-placed teams would battle it out to win the Tier 3 Plate. As the competition increases in size, some disparity in playing levels inevitably results, and one aim of the Tiered knockout competitions is to enable teams to play against sides of a similar standard. And this year, for the first time, trophies would be presented to the winners of these last two competitions.

A further lotterial element was added to the World Cup draw when no fewer than eight Portuguese teams qualified for the Finals. There was no form guide for these sides, and coupled with the reduction to just two group games, some of the more established teams might have been a tad nervous about their chances of progressing. The home teams snuggled into their own Pot at the glitzy LIFA tombola-spinning event, whilst the eight highest finishing teams from the previous tournament clambered into the Pot of Seeds. The remaining eight sides made up Pot Two, with one team drawn randomly from each Pot making up a qualifying group.

Spot Prizes

As it turned out, five of the eight seeded teams managed to end up topping their groups, whilst two teams (Copidata and Douro) from the host nation won through to the main knockout competition. Essex showed their continuing improvement in becoming the only team from Pot Two to win their group.

Two of the seeded teams that failed to top their Groups did so only by dint of the dreaded penalty shoot-out lottery. With just two group games per team, it was perhaps inevitable that teams would finish with identical records, drawing with each other and beating the other team in the group by the same margin. Essex won through from Group E after a penalty shoot-out victory over last year’s beaten finalists Calor Gas, whilst Douro qualified in similar fashion from Group F after finishing level with the much fancied Czech Republic.

Six Pointers

Of the remaining groups, no fewer than five produced clear winners, where one team beat both their opponents. Most decisively, Italy, who had won seven out of the last eight World Cups, cruised through Group D, scoring fourteen times whilst not conceding a single goal. Their 11-0 victory over India broke the record for the biggest win in the tournament, previously held by the Czechs for their 9-1 demolition of Holland B in a 2002 Group match. It was also the biggest aggregate of goals scored in a single World Cup match, just pipping the previous record of ten, shared by that Czech win and the legendary 5-5 draw between England and Holland back in 1996. A number of bookies promptly stopped taking bets on yet another Italian triumph.

London topped Group A with two comfortable wins, whilst Copidata efficiently eased themselves out of Group H with a pair of 1-0 victories against the Welsh Wizards and GSD ERP UK from Birmingham. It is difficult to rustle up the de riguer Group of Death when just three teams comprise each Group, but if there was to be one this year it would have to be Group C, where second favourites Reading A found themselves pitted against the ever-competitive Manchester, finalists in 1999 and 2003. The very first game effectively decided the outcome, with Reading narrowly beating the Mancunians 2-1 in a close match of two halves, after which both sides went on to comfortably defeat the perhaps optimistically monikered Finishing.

England Make Hard Work Of it

The Pups had rebranded themselves as the England Corinthians, a label that well summed up their on-field attitude. It was all about scoring more goals than their opponents, for despite generously conceding five, they also banged in nine at the other end to win both their matches, and emerge from a highly entertaining Group G that squeezed in no fewer than 18 goals. The debutante Swiss contributed greatly here, eventually going down 5-2 to the Corinthians (and a Nigel Hoyland hat-trick) after leading 2-1, and gaining their first World Cup point with a 2-2 draw against PT CS Utd. They also unveiled an innovative offside trap, whereby one of their defenders lagged so deep behind the play as to be outside the lineman’s line of vision. A number of unwitting opposing strikers fell into this trap, being flagged offside despite the somewhat distant presence of a defender between them and the goal.

Apart from the penalty shoot-out deciders, the closest finish was to be found in Group B, where the seeded England Lags only just managed to rescue a point in their opening game with a late own goal, Carl Drinkwater having brilliantly fired Reading B into a spectacular lead on the stroke of half time. The Lags again left it late as a James McCabe brace secured victory in the last five minutes against the 11 Ronaldinhos known collectively as Release Your Football. If Reading were thus to have two teams in the last eight, their B string needed to beat the Portuguese team by three goals in the final group game. But in the event, they fell 1-0 to an elementary spot-kick from Euclides, and the old men had scrambled through.

Swiss on a Roll

The Tier 3 Plate quarter-finals found the Portuguese third-placed teams suffering further misery. Tripas e Chuteiros (T&Cs) crashed 5-0 to Sporting Leatherhead, whilst Finishing contrived to go down by double that margin against a Swiss team thoroughly enjoying their first day in international competition. It was a mixed bag for the Surrey teams, as Leatherhead FC lost their quarter-final against Reading B by 5-0. Perhaps Leatherhead’s selfless offer to field two teams in order to make the competition’s total entry up to a nice round 24, had spread their quality a little too thinly.

In the last quarter-final the Welsh Wizards, who had impressively finished fourth at last year’s World Cup, got themselves back on track with a 4-0 win over India. The Indians, who became firm crowd favourites in St. Andrews on their way to winning the Tier 3 Plate, were finding things a little tougher second time out. Although skipper Parminder Bhatia scored the team’s first goal of the tournament in their next game, they still went down 2-1 to Finishing, and a second goal from the same player was again insufficient as they lost 4-1 to the other Portuguese side T&Cs in the Wooden Spoon decider. However, the Portuguese team had only nine fit men, and despite playing with two injured players, they did borrow an Allinfor player to sit on the bench. A subsequent appeal by the Indians was graciously accepted by the Portuguese skipper Ricardo Rocha, and LIFA mandarins confirmed that the match should be awarded to India.

Surrey fortunes were reversed as Leatherhead FC thrashed T&Cs 9-0 in their play-off, whilst Sporting Leatherhead went down narrowly to a single Reading B goal in the first semi-final. Les Petits Suisses continued to entertain their growing band of admirers as they pipped the Wizards by the odd goal in five in the other semi-final, and continued in the same vein as they raced into a 3-1 lead in the Tier 3 Plate Final against Reading B. But with a few minutes remaining a tragic accident befell Reading full-back Mark Cook, who suffered a horrific double leg break in mistiming a tackle on the Swiss left-winger. The attendant medical staff were quickly on the scene, and Cook was taken to hospital, and we can only join everyone else in wishing him all the best for as swift and painless a recovery as possible. There was understandably little appetite for playing out the final minutes of the Final, but this terrible mishap should not stop us from praising the impressive achievement of the Swiss on their World Cup debut, not least for scoring a net-bulging 20 goals in their five games.

Czechs Bounce Back

The penalty shoot-out lottery was partly responsible for a formidable Tier Two Plate line-up that included the Czech Republic (2002 World Cup winners), last year’s beaten finalists Calor Gas, two-times Finalists Manchester and GSD ERP UK, along with four teams from the host nation. Home advantage was however noticeably absent in the quarter-finals, where only Allinfor made it through to the semi-finals with a narrow one-goal victory over GSD. Manchester showed their strength with a 6-1 win over PT CS Utd, whilst Calor eased comfortably through with a 2-0 win against Eualinho. The Ronaldinhi went closer, but were pipped 3-2 by the Czechs, although there was some consolation for Release Your Football as they went on to win their two subsequent play-off games on the Sunday.

Manchester saw off the final Portuguese Tier Two challenge by beating Allinfor 2-0, but it was the other semi-final between two of the tournament’s outside bets for the title that proved the most engaging. The clash between the Czechs and Calor Gas was certainly a competitive one, and whilst the English side forced most of the goal-scoring chances, they could not break the deadlock, and were twice desperately unlucky to be denied by the woodwork. The Czech defence was as strong as ever, and Calor frustration exploded in the latter stages to earn them the tournament’s only red card. Both teams had missed out on Group qualification due to penalty shoot-out defeats, but Czech composure held the edge over Calor Gas bottle as they went through by 4 spot-kicks to 3.

The Final produced an excellent and closely fought match between two good quality footballing sides in Manchester and the Czech Republic. Chances, if not abundant, were equally shared, but fears of yet another shoot-out began to grow as the game wore on goalless. It was the Czechs, though, who had an ace up their sleeves as they threw substitute Jorge Sanchez into the fray late doors. Sanchez it was who became the Republican hero, latching onto a corner at the back stick to spectacularly lash the ball first time into the roof of the net and snatch the Tier Two trophy for the Czechs.

At Sixes and Sevens

And so to the main competition. The quarter-finals played late on Saturday evening perhaps found some teams somewhat wearied by their exertions in the heat. The Italians continued their seemingly inevitable goal-drenched path to the Final as they dismissed Copidata 6-1. London produced an even bigger margin, as a Qasim hat-trick and two goals from Javaid helped the ebullient cockneys to a 7-0 drubbing of a strangely out-of-sorts Essex side.

Rebranding failed to improve the Corinthian lot, as Reading A again accounted for the ex-Pups in a repeat of last year’s quarter-final. There was no need for a penalty shoot-out this time around, and salt was surely rubbed into Corinthian wounds when the second and clinching goal was scored by French ace Sandric Loriot, who had ironically shared many heart-aches playing for the Pups in three World Cups from 2001 to 2003.

It was left to the England Lags to introduce a degree of nail-biting tension amidst these clear-cut last-eight results. Despite the remarkable fact that Lag keeper Sinnige only touched the ball once during the entire game, and that from a back-pass, the old men could not turn their dominance into goals in an increasingly niggly match against Douro. Once more a shoot-out was called upon to decide matters, and, despite his previous inactivity, Sinnige emerged as the English hero by saving two Portuguese kicks whilst his colleagues clinically converted all theirs to continue the Lags' bizarre record of reaching the semi-finals at each alternate World Cup since 2000. Perhaps it takes the old men fully two years to recover?

There was ultimately some small consolation for Douro who went on defeat fellow home side Copidata on penalties in the seventh place play-off. Meanwhile Essex and the Corinthians, who had each seen off a Portuguese team in their respective play-offs, squared up for the right to claim fifth spot. It was a close game, which Essex just shaded by the odd goal in three to end an impressive tournament for them. They had produced four outstanding displays, their only poor showing coming in that quarter-final against London, and they could also proudly boast the tournament’s leading marksman. Ian Wells' opening goal against the Corinthians took his tally to 8, earning him a virtual Golden Boot.

Penalties Paid on Final Demands

All eyes were on the semi-final between Reading and Italy, and a packed crowd were not disappointed as a dramatic clash unfolded. The reigning Champions had beaten the Berkshire outfit at this same stage in the last two World Cups, as well as in the quarter-finals the year before that, all by a one-goal margin. Barry Nicol, who had also scored in the St. Andrews semi-final, and Volpe for the Italians, made the score 1-1, before Sandric Loriot gave Reading a glimpse of the Final with a fine finish to put his side 2-1 up. But as the clock ticked down, nerves began to fray. Italy, pushing desperately for an equaliser to keep them in a competition they had won for the previous four years, won a hotly disputed penalty with just minutes left. After much vigorous debate on both sides, it was Reading keeper Jonathan Kenyon who kept his cool, saving the spot-kick to finally see his team break their Italian hoodoo.

Penalty drama also climaxed the other semi-final, although what went before was far less pulsating. After an even first half bereft of goal-mouth action, the England Lags stepped up the pace and dominated the second period against London. Fran Donaghue twice went close with fizzing strikes, and Mark Abbott saw a viciously curling shot desperately parried skywards by the keeper. London had smashed 14 goals in their first three matches without reply, but could not reproduce this attacking flair against a well-organised Lag rear-guard. They did come close late on, but Sinnige was again the saviour with a sharp double block. Extra time also failed to deliver a goal, and so it was left to penalties to decide the other Finalist. The outcome was effectively decided with the first spot-kick. Abbott, so clinical from twelve yards down the years, shockingly fired over the bar and the Lags never recovered. London lethally dispatched each of their penalties and were through to play in their first World Cup Final.

The Lags quickly overcame their disappointment and put on a fine display in the third-fourth play-off match against the Italians. They too had never beaten the reigning World Champions, but an excellent display of passing football in the first half saw them take the lead when legendary Supremo Keith Sidaway turned on a sixpence to fire home. The Lags extended their lead midway through the second half with an even better goal, Donaghue bulleting home a header from Abbott's pin-point cross in classic Ravanelli fashion. To their credit, the Italians did not give up and piled on some late pressure. They were denied a seemingly certain goal by a double goal-line block, but did manage to pull a goal back through Brando. Further acting only earned a yellow card, and the apocalypse now was realised with the two straight defeats for the seven times World Champions. The England Lags had won bronze, but would surely rue what might have been.

Reading Book Place in History

The stands were packed for the Final as the sun continued to shine down on the fantastic Vila Real de António Stadium. The fact that this was each teams’ fifth match, compared to the six games played in recent tournaments, meant that the Reading A and London players allegedly had that little bit more left in the tank despite small squads. But the cautious opening exchanges betrayed the huge prize at stake, with both teams easing themselves nervously into the show-piece match. Reading could easily have fooled themselves into thinking they had already won the trophy by beating Champions Italy in the semi-final, but they wisely avoided showing any complacency against a dangerous London team.

Both teams tried to keep possession on the large pitch, but it was Reading who slowly began to dominate possession. A number of half chances came their way, whilst the pacey and skilful London strike duo of Qasim and Javaid got little joy against the formidable Readng centre-half pairing of Vasilios Nikoladis and Supremo Chris Dann. But the break-through came courtesy of a goal worthy of a World Cup Final. When Gaz Barlow picked up possession on the left wing there seemed little danger, but a direct and seering burst of pace took him past first one tackle and then a second as he neared the bye-line. With little support, the Reading forward dribbled along the bye-line, shrugging off another challenge before curling the ball brilliantly over and around the advancing keeper, and just inside the far post to record his sixth goal of the tournament.

Reading appeared in control as the second half got under way, and were creating the majority of the chances. Along with Barlow, skipper Nich Fazel and the wide menace of Sandric Loriot and the Carter brothers posed a constant attacking threat, and it wasn’t too long before Reading extended their lead. Nikoladis collected a loose clearance some fifteen yards outside the box, and embarked on a dexterous dribble that took him elegantly past two challenges before he was upended by a desperate lunge in the box. There was no doubt about the decision, and Loriot calmly slotted home the spot kick to also claim his sixth goal of the campaign.

To their immense credit, London raised themselves and gave it everything in the last ten minutes. Reading keeper Kenyon was forced to bravely snatch a through-ball off the toe of a London forward, before Qasim gave the capital side a glimmer of hope when he clinically fired home a loose ball in the box. London forced a couple of corners late on, but Reading's immense defence stood firm, and the final whistled signalled that it was they who had deservedly become the first English team to lift the LogicaCMG World Cup.

Team Photos: [Allinfor] [Copidata] [Calor Gas] [Czech Rep.] [Douro FC] [England Lags] [England Corinthians] [Essex] [Eualinho] [Finishing] [GSD ERP UK] [India] [Italy] [Leatherhead FC] [London] [Manchester] [PT CS Utd] [Reading A] [Reading B] [Release Your Football] [Sporting Leatherhead] [Switzerland] [Tripas e Chuteiros] [Welsh Wizards]