England got off to a dream start. A quickfire triple from Herbert, Ursell and Toti put England in control within 11 minutes.
Their mood dampened slightly when England’s Sam Murphy put the ball into his own team’s net, helping Cyprus, in the 12th minute. But Cyprus had no time to change the course of the game as Rob Ursell quickly struck his second goal to finish the first half with 4:1.
The fast pace of the match didn’t seem to drop during the second half. England continued to control the match and dominate the possession of the ball, but couldn’t convert possession into dangerous shooting opportunities. “We are happy about the final result and the three points. We expect a tougher game tomorrow, but have to keep going” said England’s Omar Mohamed after the 4:1 victory.
The rain seemed to be easing off temporarily when Turkey stepped on the field against Serbia. With the scoreline sitting at 0:1 at the end of the first half, after Nemanja Jovanovic had found the net in the 14th minute, Turkey needed to find new strength for the second half.
With the final whistle approaching the players in all-white tried to push for an equaliser but, in the end, couldn’t find a way past Serbia’s goalkeeper. The result stayed 0:1, granting three points to Serbia.
Czech Republic opened their game against Portugal with a sudden opener in the 2nd minute; they got off to a good start, 1:0. In the 11th minute goalkeeper Marek Gruber left his post, justifiably, and doubled the Czech team’s lead.
Portugal struggled to muster a response in the second half. However the Czech team’s Ondrej Padera managed to score a wonderful hat-trick, which was only answered by Portugal’s Carlos Miguel Vinhas, settling the 5:1 final score.