Finally, the rain is back in London!
It will take time (and a lot more rain) before the Kensington Park grass returns to its natural green colour, but the drizzle (and occasional downpour) was enough to soften the ground, allowing players to enjoy a much smoother play.
While both teams benefited from the weather conditions, the Colours seemed more at ease on the pitch, and proved to be much more effective than their opponents
Leading their team from the back was Johannes, who played a match of rare intensity and inspiration, and showed great captaincy when dealing with some of his most irritating teammates.
Next to him was rookie Pietro, author of an impressive performance. Playing effortlessly, he controlled and distributed a huge number of balls, providing balance to the team and finding always the right pass with the precision of a space engineer.
It turns out that Pietro is in fact a space engineer, currently developing a new system to track satellites in space within millimetres. He used the opportunity of our match not just to have fun but also to test his system on our footballs, which of course are more difficult to track than Elon Musk’s space oddities.
Pietro was brought to the pitch by Kaan, who is quietly establishing himself as one of the most effective Club’s scouts, building up his reputation while collecting hefty fees for his recruits.
The Colours’ attacking line was a bit less organised that the back, with Adam, Morteza, Jonathan, Davide and Francesco exchanging places without an apparent logic, but proved effective. Within 30 minutes, they were ahead 4-0.
The Bibs team was unsure as to what was wrong with them. After a quick data analysis, Federico concluded that they were just not creating enough chances, in fact recording a negative number of eXpected Goals (xG).
I know what you are thinking. It is mathematically and conceptually impossible for a team’s total Expected Goals (xG) to be a negative number. So perhaps Federico’s calculation was not entirely correct, but still it served its purpose.
Inspired by the mathematical absurdity, the Bibs increased the pace of their attack, subbing late-joiner Amin for Davide, who moved to the Colours.
With the Bibs now in the zone, the ever reliable Bijan rose to the occasion and scored three times in succession, bringing its team to the verge of an extraordinary remuntada. But the destiny of the match was not going to change.
With the rain now falling incessantly, the Bibs found again their balance. They secured the lead first with a fourth goal, and later with the golden goal, scored by Adam with his first-ever header.
The Man of the Match Award was a tight context between Johannes and Pietro, but was ultimately awarded to the latter, a rare achievement for a rookie.
The young italian could barely contained his excitement and was still star-struck by having played with such legends. Before going home, he couldn’t resist begging senator Hossam to stop for a selfie under his gigantic, iconic green umbrella (see top picture). Our President duly obliged.
COLOURS-BIBS 5-3
TEAMS
BIBS: Andrea, Jonathan R, Hossam, Kaan, Federico, Anton, Bijan, Kaan’s friend, Amin (late arrival), Davide (1st half),
COLOURS: Morteza, Johannes, Pietro, Rob, Karim, Francesco, Jonathan and his son, Adam, Davide (2nd half)
.