A supremely balanced 11 a side with an explosive mix of youth and vintage
After months of inactivity, unannounced, he came back to the pitch where he built his reputation as a lethal, uncompromising striker and, true to it, he scored with his very first touch of the ball. There is no prize in guessing this is the one and only Tony Sanguinetti.
Unfortunately soulless VAR, taking the risk of an uprising on the stands, ruled it out as arguably the ball, when crossed by Oliviero for the ‘fox in the box’, was already beyond the line.
Undisturbed by such event Orange kept piling pressure on the Colours defence though the spaces were only to be found with accurate passes as the pitch was populated by a full house of 22 players with Kids easily outnumbering Dads. It was a joy to see so many young players eager to learn the trade from their fellow Veterans. Some, like Yuv and Giacomo, were flown in directly from the US taking advantage of half term there.
The Orange were definitely on a fast forward mode: with Paride the only role keeper playing in the Colours goal, the Orange deployed Hannes as an attacking goalkeeper: in fact he touched the ball far more often outside his own box, engaging in last blood clashes of Titans with Nizar which, alone, were worth the ticket’s price.
The casual assortment of the two teams turned out to be a masterpiece with art outdoing science to produce a match decided only with the very last touch of the ball. That also explains why never ever any fan left the game before the final whistle.
By the way if you ever wondered why there are so many nails shops in Kensington Church Street, few yards away from the pitch, the answer is logistically simple: after any of our nail-biting games our female fans find it convenient to get a treatment close by…it’s good to support the local community. Yet again we nailed it!
The game was so tight that it took a collective class act by the Orange to go in front: the ball was manoeuvred in turn by Johannes, Ishan and Oliviero before Giacomo applied the final touch in the middle of the box.
Then Oliviero made no exception this weekend to his habit of scoring at least a weekly brace by hitting the net twice. But in between Diego F on the opposite front established himself as the ‘regista’ with licence to score and and kept his team in the game: at no point the two goal gap (3-1) look comfortable enough for the Orange to just switch to cruising mode. Diego D kissed the top corner with an incredibly bullet shot while Julien kept winning balls in midfield.
The rescue man for the Colours took the familiar shape of Yuv who was back determined to put his own mark on the game with a brace one of which was a superb pinpointed angled shot from midfield who travelled faster than Hannes rushing back from a corner in the Colours’ box. This amazing accomplishment is becoming almost a weekly event with the copyright being passed from Yuness to Nizar and now Yuv. Surely turning the extraordinary into ordinary is a feat of champions.
At 3-3 and going into golden goal at midday day the money were on Colours to complete the remuntada but one man, not new to such acts, disagreed on this finale: at the first available opportunity Johannes asked no permission to bring back the result to the rightful owners and seal a game which will live long in the memory of those lucky enough to have been involved in it.
With so many players it was inevitable to have at least one Rookie: Carlo, Oliviero’s friend, from Udine in north/west Italy where Udinese play in Serie A. They grabbed the headlines in 1983 when they bought the number 10 Brazilian magician, Zico who then had a chance, for the first time in his life, to see the snow.
Usually players when confronting Hossam find excuses like ‘Sorry I need to go the loo’ or ‘ how much is it to swap side?’ but Carlo fought bravely and often was able to square the play to the opposite side where Ishan, Dario and Oliviero made the most of every incoming ball.
Voters were spoilt for choice when choosing the Man of the Match but it was Giuseppe to just edge over Yuv thanks to a consistently energetic, immaculate and versatile game in his new position as defender turning midfielder turning striker when required with equally impressive results. Paying him just a salary for three roles is just another coupe by the CLUB everyone would love to play for but only few are asked to.
ORANGE-COLOURS 4-3
GOALS
ORANGE: Oliviero (2), Giacomo, Johannes
COLOURS: Yuv (2), Diego F
TEAMS
ORANGE: Hannes, Giuseppe, Federico, Johannes, Carlo, Ishan, Dario, Oliviero, Giancarlo, Tony S, Giacomo
COLOURS: Paride, Hossam, Massimo, Al, Julien, Matej, Diego F, Francesco, Yuv, Diego D, Nizar
