A fine balance in a defining week.
A loud roar from the stands saluted Tony S return to the pitch, this time though as a spectator. His limping betrayed his absence from the MG6 leaving the fans in do doubt that without Tony it will be an uphill struggle. The bookmakers were quick to adjust the odds to factor in the missing lethal striker in the event of the year. With only eight days to go, Match fever is already overtaking the covid-19 one and a far more contagious one.
Today’s turnout for the last game before MG6 was exceptionally high with 24 players eager to show off and claim a selection in the starting XI next week. The two formations were so finely balanced that for the first 45’ there was not a single goal scored. Something unprecedented.
Interestingly, as it emerged later, the Bibbed had 11 players on the pitch v 13 for the Unbibbed but it was decided not to alter the teams not to spoil the fine balance created by the Club algorithm who seemed to know better, once more.
One key factor behind the goals drought was the impeccable performance of the two keepers: Tony L and Paride. The latter was back after a long absence and immediately made it clear what fans had been missing:
Paride denied in rapid succession both Yashin shot from a short distance and soon after a header from Francesco with a diving saves to extract the ball from the bottom right corner.
In the post match interviews Dads let transpire the worry that it will be very difficult to score against the Kids with Paride in goal and without Tony S upfront. Still, history is there to prove that FDs should never be written off, no matter what.
To break the deadlock today you needed a player who can best be described as a mix between Cruyff and Messi: his mates can find him anywhere on the pitch, something opposition cannot claim: his twist and turns followed by vertical acceleration (from zero to 100mt in few seconds) make him unstoppable and uncatchable. Covid further plays to his advance as man marking clashes with social distancing rules and if you leave him two meters you can kiss him goodbye. There is no prize for guessing such player is Yasin who after breaking the ice scored a second soon after, dumping any hope of recovery for the Bibbed despite reiterated attempts and a countless number of corners.
The Unbibbed defence had experience and guts in spades with Hannes, Hossam, Massimo and Chetan taking no chances and clearing every ball while Thmas opted for a more offensive role, perhaps inspired by Bayern Munich forwards recent stellar performance with the triplet. Credit must be given though to the young Unbibbed attack: Sara and Andrea on the left, Marco and Adam on the right were constantly feeding Khaled Alg and Giuseppe upfront coming very close to score, few times denied by Tony L. Their efforts were finally rewarded when Giuseppe stubbornly fought and won a ball in the small box to then score a well deserved golden goal.
For the first time ever the Man of the Match award was handed well before the fans votes arrived, in the certainty that the was only one recipient on the day: the Match winner Yasin who will carry
The hopes of the Dads for the MASTER GAME 6 next Sunday 27th in Holland Park at 10.30 (kick off 11.00).
Finally, one week into the game, the traditional plea by the CLUB to spur FDs to write another page of the never ageing story: Be prepared to go into the match ready to inflict maximum pain to your Kids. Without that mental attitude you might well stay home and watch the game on TV along with few other billions people. It doesn’t get any bigger.
SCORE
UNBIBBED-BIBBED 2-1
TEAMS
UNBIBBED: Tony L, Chris H, Thomas, Hossam, Hannes, Chetan, Massimo,Diego, Ben, Julien, Jeremy T, Yasin, Francesco
BIBBED: Paride, Johannes, Sara, Adam, Khaled Alk, Marco, Giuseppe, Khaled Alg, Andrea, Federico, Giancarlo
GOALS
UNBIBBED: Yasin (2)
BIBBED: Giuseppe