The FDs Arena today looked like the Colosseum of ancient days, graced by the presence of three comeback senators currently living in the foreign provinces of Brazil, Germany and Croatia, all part of our ever expanding Empire which knows no boundaries. The entry of Victor, Thomas and Branko was saluted by wild eruptions from the crowd and rightly so. It was no coincidence that the team they all playing with today ended up victorious displaying power and style. Thomas and Branko with the established presence of Hossam gave Colours Defence solidity and stability. Not only that: they were the primary source of play from bottom up with a disciplined and accurate use of the ball by their educated feet. Victor was seen in different part of the pitch making his skills and experience always available to eager teammates.
Cherry on the cake there was also a Rookie, Antonio, a friend of Branko, who together with Dario made the Croatian contingent the second biggest after the noisy Italians.
Antonio from Croatia joined Branko, Dario and Diego strengthening the Croatian contingent at FDs.
They made their country proud, something which was not followed up by their compatriots later in the afternoon. But there was a silver lining: soon after the disastrous performance of the Croatian national team v England, Branko received a call from the head of the Croatian Federation (HNS) begging him to accept the role of player-manager to restore the previously impressive reputation of the squad captained by Luka Modric.
Branko wasted no time and even before knowing terms and conditions, declared himself available but put a ‘sine qua non’ condition: if the Federation can grant 11 Croatian passports to FDs (even randomly) then he could guarantee the fastest and most successful turnaround in football history: that is a natural progression to 2030 World Cup title after third place in 1998 and second in 2018. We don’t have at the time of writing any more details but please check you spam emails in case there is one from the Croatian consulate in London… Stay tuned
Soon after the FDs game, cricket players desecrated the holy grail of football: Chetan, can you please have a word?!
Having seen the consistency of Ram’s performance, bookmakers’ money tilted more on the Colours’s side until Bijian opened the score reminding them that Orange chances should not have been underestimated. The very Ram though made sure that Colours were always in the game, yet again scoring a brace only for Jonathan D replicating with the same currency on the other front fixing the score at 4-2 for the Orange. JD since scoring recently a hat trick and winning the Man of the Match award seems a different player with an impressive conversion ratio. And his market value is reflecting that: not many clubs will now be able to afford him but that is a bit of an academic debate as he has stated many times that he will stick to where he belongs.
4-2 turned out to be an inflection point for Colours: Johannes both scored and fed strikers with known regularity and accuracy while Francesco shrugged off an unusual abstinence by converting with surgical precision a penalty conceded by Kaan for punching the ball in his box forgetting he was not the keeper. This is collateral damage for having to use in both goals rush keepers while the official ones are still missing in action.
Morteza and Andrea M added to the Colours’ furious turnaround with two wonderful goals bringing the score to 6-4 in their favour. At that point there was little time for a reverse Remuntada: key players like Oliviero were unusually firing blank. Giancarlo failed to score for third consecutive game and Jonathan R came very close with two lobs and a touch just over the bar: a piece of magic that deserved better. Furthermore Orange efforts were frustrated by bad luck like when Davide hit the bottom post from an impossibly angled position.
At the 11.45 mark only the golden goal was left to rescue Orange.
By the way, as a side thought, can you think of a better way than the golden goal to settle disputes? Just imagine if wars were ended by a golden goal. If and when Football Dads will be asked to save the world that will be a possibility.
Would Colours capitalise on the momentum and end in style a glorious game or will Orange grab their last chance with both hands to save the day?
It fell on Morteza again to hit the golden goal net ending the score at 7-4 for the Colours who hit the net for the fifth consecutive time without Orange being able to interfere. Scoring, like Morteza did, three consecutive Golden Goals is no mean feature and voters for the Man of the Match award were verymuch in tune with that. Cherry on the cake Morteza also scored a wonderful goal with a killer shot in the top corner leading his squad to victory. A well deserved recognition shared with the team which today worked as a Swill clock with added Brazilian, Croatian and German flair.
COLOURS-ORANGE 7-4
GOALS
COLOURS: Ram (2), Morteza (2), Francesco, Johannes, Andrea M
ORANGE: Bijan (2), Jonathan D (2)
TEAMS
COLOURS: Hossam, Andrea M, Branko, Thomas, Nadir, Ram, Julien, Dario, Victor, Johannes, Morteza, Francesco
ORANGE: Massimo, Bijan, Antonio, Kaan, Eren, Omer, Davide, Oliviero, Jonathan D, Giancarlo, Jonathan R.