Dan and Andrea lead Bibs to victory in July rain

The 13 players congregated to the Pond pitch found themselves having to deal with an hostile environment.  No, I am not talking about the Home Office but just about the weather, quite unusual for July even in London.

Rather than being a nuisance, however, cold wind and side ways rain were seen as an opportunity by the two teams, who devised new strategies to deal with it (more about this later).

Another challenge came from the goal, which have become difficult to set up and seems to bend more and more each week. This is of course understandable, considering the pressure they are subject to. In fact, it’s so surprising they can still stand that a team of CERN physicists has asked to borrow them for some laboratory tests.

The match saw the two teams trading goals one after the other. The Colours team scored first with Jamie, only for Bibs to get even. One more goal each and it was 2-2. One each again 3-3, and so on.

It took a bit of magic for the Bibs to break the match. When Dan got the ball in his own box, he saw the Colours’ goalkeeper out of the box. It took him a fraction of a second to study the wind direction, and realising he could score from there. His stunning long shot  from 70 yards bounced once and when over the goalkeeper’s head and into the goal.  Astonishing.

Colours fought back and after few goals managed to get again even at 6-6, but succumbed at Golden Goal. It was Andrea to score it with one of his trademark moves, you know, the ones that we have seen from youngster Yamal and Guler at Euro 2024. Ah, if only Spalletti had called him for the Italian team…