The snow-capped peaks of the Austrian Alps provided the back-drop for London’s assault on the ELF Cup 2005. Having lost the final in 2003 to Budapest, a strengthened London team looked for its first tournament win.
London comfortably won its opening group game against a determined Salzburg team. However, London suffered a set back in its second match against Nice only managing to draw 1-1, courtesy of a late equaliser. With a number of other teams having a 100% record, London’s future in the tournament rested on other team’s results. London heaped the pressure on the other teams pushing for a semi-final berth with a committed performance and a 5-0 victory against home nation rivals, Dundee. And, as the day progressed, the results started to go London’s way and the late equaliser against Nice proved priceless as they squeezed into the semi-finals, qualifying in fourth place.
In the semi-final, London faced the much fancied Rome Dream Team who went into the game with a 100% record in the tournament. However, in a quality end-to-end game, a late London winner saw them through to the final against Vienna who had defeated Turkish side Bosphorus in the other semi-final.
A second successive final saw a second successive final defeat for London. Despite taking the lead, London failed to contain a fit and determined Vienna side and eventually went down 2-1.
Group Stage
|
London 5 v 0 Salzburg |
|
London 1 v 1 Nice |
|
London 5 v 0 Dundee |
Semi-final
|
London 2 v 1 Rome Dream Team |
Final
|
London 1 v 2 Vienna |
