Warming up for the World Cup - 28 May 2014

The first Close Brothers Table Football World Cup Finals took place at Bar Kick in Shoreditch with 19 of the worlds finest represented. There had been an early scare when both England and Brazil were unable to confirm flights to the finals, luckily James Brock and Arun Kumar step in with generous donations to make the trip possible. Unfortunately Argentina were not so lucky having got delayed in Gauchos. Iran represented by Mo Siddique turned up eventually and went on to qualify for the quarter finals with two wins and two draws in quick succession catching up with their fixtures.

There was a slight worry when it was discovered that three of the stadiums had not been completed and were unplayable which put the whole tournament at risk but some worthy negotiations by the management committee resulted in one of the grounds receiving a safety certificate in time for the tournament to commence.

Group One was made up of England (James Brock), Australia (Rob Field), Ivory Coast (Richard Chadwick) Brazil (Arun Kumar), and Greece (Daz Domanillo). The group was dominated by Ivory Coast who won all four games including a thrilling 6-3 victory over runners up Greece. England's performance was disappointing if not unexpected winning one match against wooden spoonists Brazil 6-4. The Aussies fared slightly better, having won their first two games faded badly with two defeats to Ivory Coast and Greece.

Group Two included USA (Richard Hubble), Germany (Sean McCarthy) Iran (Mo Siddique) Spain (Gen Teo) the only female participant and Portugal (Andrew Forster). This proved to be a group of two halves, the good half and the not so good half. Portugal were unlikely not to qualify having not lost a game, winning one and drawing three, whilst Iran's late arrival did not stopping them pipping USA to top spot on goal difference. In fact the Iran v USA as you would expect ended up being a bit of a bomb fest ending 5 a piece. Meanwhile Spain put up a brave fight managing to score against both Iran and Portugal. Germany having lost to both Iran and USA were destined not to take any further part in the competition.

Group Three was made up of Honduras (Viktor Kazinec), Colombia (Nick Sensier), Italy (Aldo Caparco), and Mexico (Nirmal Sooknah). Italy romped home with three victories and a plus 16 goal difference, anyone who's brave enough to turn up in their national colours must fancy their chances otherwise they would look a right plonker!

Colombia were runners up having beaten their only rivals Honduras 3-1 in an exciting match of one half. Whilst Mexico put up a brave but ultimately unsuccessful campaign but did have the satisfaction of putting one goal past Colombia, well you have to be positive don't you.

And so to Group Four which ended up being the group of death. Netherlands (Mark McCarthy), Algeria (Connery Gibney), Uruguay (Francis Christopher, the only player with two first names - yes I know old joke), France (Gary Murphy) and Belgium (Peter Vidal). Netherlands, Algeria and Uruguay all ended up with 7 points. Netherlands  won the group with a 4 goal difference and the less said about Algeria and Uruguay's goal difference the better, the committee saw fit to see Algeria qualify to the determent of Uruguay, oh dear Louis Surez is crying again! Meanwhile France had a disappointing competition but did manage draws against Uruguay and Algeria. Whilst Belgium had a morale boosting draw against the Netherlands and a 4-1 triumph over France.

The Quarter Finals saw Ivory Coast edge past Algeria 7-6 on a golden goal, the game extending in to an extra minute of play. Late comers Iran finally found too many games in such a short succession was too much going down 8-5 to Colombia.

Italy proved to strong for Greece romping home to a 6-1 victory, whilst the Netherlands and the USA played out a thrilling 6-4 victory for the team in Orange.

The Semi-Finals saw Ivory Coast paired with Colombia and Italy with the Netherlands. In the first match Ivory Coast romped to an impressive 6-1 victory, meanwhile Italy rolled out 5-3 victors having gone from 2-0 up to 3- 2 down at one point.

Ivory Coast v Colombia Semi Final

Netherlands v Italy Semi Final

The Third and Fourth place playoff saw Colombia come back against the Netherlands from two nil to win 7 - 3 to claim 3rd spot.

The Final was played out between Ivory Coast and Italy, which saw Italy ultimately power to a more than impressive 8 - 3 victory. At one point Italy were leading 4-1and were more than comfortable until Ivory Coast pulled it back to 4-3, only for Italy to go up a gear to seal victory and the Trophy.

Italy v Ivory Coast Final

Everyone agreed that Italy were worthy winners having won all their games, scoring 38 goals and conceding only 10, let's see them repeat that in two weeks time!

The four finalists

So that's it for another four years, see you in 2018!