Al’s farewell + From London to Singapore
It was an electric six a side game that the heat did nothing to slow down in terms of pace and aggression.
This came as no surprise to the fans who always demand and expect every FDs game to played as a World Cup final. With the notable difference that FDs play non stop and longer, run double as being half on the pitch at double the age. Just another ‘par for the course’ display, week in week out.
It is arguably easier to mismatch the teams with a high number of players but today the exercise was surgically performed with half the footballers than usual.
Without Yassin to counterbalance Johannes, striking a balance was in itself an uphill struggle. Literally so as the Colours were made to play against the gradient. To then put Alessandro, the only role keeper available, in the same Orange team as the young German, looked like an act of utter faith in the capabilities of the Colours squad which was nonetheless a good mix of experienced household names and fresh blood. The bookmakers odds reflected expectations of an Orange win but no certainty whatsoever about it.
It was very clear from the start that one player had extra motivations to perform: since the inglorious defeat at Master Game 10. Federico T has been up night and day pondering revenge: today was his day of reckoning holding the reins of midfield and showing clinical and cynical finishing as well. This early credentials for ‘Man of the Match’ kept improving consistently throughout the match as Federico reached a tally of four goals coupled with exquisite assists and penetrating passes which tore apart the Colours defence. After his third goal no one was in any doubt about who would have taken home both the ball and the MOTM award.
A single Saturday never goes through without a new Rookie joining: this time it was the turn of young Ali, a friend of Al, who rose to the occasion scoring no less than a hat trick helping to tilt the pendulum the Orange way.
It is very much to the Colours credit that even with such a disastrous start that saw them 4-0 down they never accepted a reshuffle supremely confident in their ability to upset the odds and start any minute a glorious remuntada’.
Unfortunately for them with the minutes passing and despite the pitch swap the gap if any increased: at one point hope deserted them and that was exactly when Johannes from midfield sent a missile shaving the inside of the post into the net. Bijan, among others an excellent goalkeeper, saw the shot early and dived timely to block the shot but such was the accuracy and the speed that the best he could do was to get close to it. A shot reminiscent of the goal scored by Koeman at Wembley in the CL final Barcelona-Sampdoria in 1992.
However dejected the Colours never gave up fighting and scored with Chetan vindicating the early own goal and the indomitable Hossam. In fact in terms of opportunities created the gap was not so wide: what made all the difference were yet again Alessandro stunning, serial saves.
It was though clear to everyone that the only way for the Colours to send their fans home with something to cheer was to score the golden goal. When it comes to that, experience counts an awful lot and in football it means, among others, the proven ability to be at the right place at the right time.
The man who has made a weekly habit of such an art yet again converted a low pass to seal the game for the Orange. He has been nicknamed the new Breitner, the better Vogts, the dynamic Lahm, you name it: the fact is there is only one Thomas. The German dedicated instantly his golden goal to his amazing football team in Singapore and wishes to see their great skills and talent one day to be displayed on the pitch with FDs.
It was indeed a very sentimental day with also Al’s farewell as he will be joining Brentford Academy soon as a goalkeeper. The CLUB gave him (see top picture) a vintage Football Kids shirt which, purely in terms of monetary value, will help him funding his studies and at a later stage buy a house and build a pension.
An agreement has been reached with Brentford that the CLUB can recall Al for Master Games and few critical games. As the saying goes:’ once a Football Kid, always a Football Kids’
ORANGE- COLOURS 10-2
GOALS
ORANGE: Federico T (4), Ali (3), Johannes, Hannes, Chetan (og)
COLOURS: Chetan, Hossam
TEAMS
ORANGE: Alessandro, Hannes, Federico T, Johannes, Thomas, Ali
COLOURS: Chetan, Hossam, Al, Giancarlo, Ishan, Bijan