Chetan steals the show
Last week’s springy weather was a distant memory on Saturday. Setting up shop on the Palace pitch, Football Dads were welcomed by colder temperature and an annoying wind that seemed intent to play an active part in the match. Still they were not bothered at all, none were the many adoring fans on the sideline.
The Colours team was blessed with the much awaited return in goal of TonyL after a long absence. This gave them so much confidence that they started the match in full-attack mode, with Johannes, AndreaM, Nizard and the Ragni brothers all in fine forms. They didn’t waste time to establish their superiority, scoring twice in the space of ten minutes.
With Paride unable to play in goal, the Oranges had to rely on rotating goalkeepers and had taken a more cautious approach. However, finding themselves two goals down, they had to speed up their game and gradually became more dangerous.
On a corner kick, Francesco went close to score with a header that went just a millimeter wide. Moments later he tried again with a powerful distance a-la-Roberto Carlos, only to see it blocked by an imperturbable Tony. Is it going to be one of those days, he thought? But luck works in mysterious ways and the goal for the Oranges eventually arrived, courtesy of Massimo. A cross arrived in the box from the side, accelerated by the wind. The super-reliable Italian center-back hit the ball with the head to clear the box but misread the ball rotation and instead sent it in his own goal. Ouch.
The Colours didn’t worry too much and regained their 2-goals lead when Nizard converted a precise assist by Alessandro, but moments later it was Chetan to steal the show.
Chetan had been playing with his usual constrain in his natural position in the back. This is a player that does his job marvellously but doesn’t like to show off or take unnecessary risks, usually avoiding to venture in attack. However this time he felt compelled to act. With the ball on his feet, he moved ahead with the power of Lukaku and the skill of a young Baggio, passing through a wall of defenders, winning a rebound after another, and ultimately putting the ball in goal with an irreverent tap-in. An impressive feat that he celebrated with the enthusiasm of a World Cup winner, while the crowd went wild.
The sorts of the match were again hanging on a balance. The Oranges felt they had a chance to get even and tried everything, but couldn’t get the last goal they needed. Instead it was the Colours team to find again the net a couple of times sealing the victory with an unquestionable 7-4.
The Man of the Match award was offered to Chetan, in recognition of his impressive goal but also to celebrate his sportsmanship and his courage. In case you don’t know, this is a man that plays for India’s over 50 cricket national squad, and even had a documentary done on him (watch it here). Chetan, we salute you!
COLOURS – ORANGES 7-4
TEAMS
COLOURS: TonyL, AndreaR, Alessandro, Johannes, Nizard, Massimo, Ali, AndreaM
ORANGES: Francesco, Paride, Jonathan, Chetan, Hossam, Bijan, Giacomo, Julien