Energy on and off the pitch
“I am on the telephone with the energy provider. Go ahead with the goals, I will come in a few minutes“.
45 minutes later, the ever-optimistic Giancarlo was still MIA* on the pitch, stuck on the phone trying to get a new contract done.
What contract? you may ask. Well, the content and the name of the company can’t be disclosed, but we can confirm it was not Gazprom trying to get back in top league football after UEFA ended their Champions League sponsorship contract.
Eventually, Giancarlo arrived on the Palace pitch and joined the Orange team that, despite being one man down, was up 4-1 against the Colours (in case you wonder, Article #35 of the Football Dads Rules states clearly that a player that enters a match in-play must join the losing team, except when this team has an extra-player, in which case the player goes to the other one).
The Orange fan greeted Giancarlo’s arrival with joy, although their enthusiasm got a bit colder when their team succumbed twice in a few minutes. But the Italian just needed time to get in the mood of the match, and found a way to show he is an asset and not a liability when he put Yassin in front of goal with a pass from his own half in a replay of the Pirlo-Baggio goal with Brescia v Juventus.
The Orange’s play was effective. Paride was a rock. Ben, Adam and Julien moved the ball with purpose and precision. Yassin was in every part of the pitch, defending and attacking at the same time, and scoring a hat-trick.
The Colours team had been playing brilliantly, building chances but lacking precision in front of goal. Johannes did a coast to coast dribbling the whole Orange team but shot just wide: amazingly the Orange fans captured by such beauty reacted with regret rather than relief. Francesco, sporting a rare green-coloured Italy shirt, missed the easiest chance, shooting above the bar a marvellous assist from Mohammad, and had all his other attempts frustrated by a super Paride. Back in goal after a long hiatus, TonyL showed some lapses of concentration, gifting two unnecessary corner kicks to the Oranges, but redeemed himself with an amazing series of saves.
Having been in control for the entire match, the Oranges entered golden goal time with huge confidence and went in “Full Attacking” mode. On a corner kick, Paride left his goal and ventured into attack, but found himself out of position when the ball ended up with Nizard, who didn’t think twice before shooting a long range lob that ended in goal.
The match was notable for the return of Yassin and Kamil, two young Moroccan brothers that had played with us once, a year and a half ago and for the debut of young Dino, a hugely talented attacking midfielder that shocked everyone with his skills. Perhaps we should call him Dinho instead? Conversation with his father-manager are already in progress to have him join us permanently from next week.
ORANGE- COLOURS 6-4
GOALS
ORANGE: Yasin (3), Adam, Ben, Christian
COLOURS: Yousef, Johannes, Mohammad, Nizard
TEAMS
ORANGE: Paride, Julien, Adam, Ben, Giancarlo, Dino, Yasin, Yasin jr
COLOURS: Tony L, Hossam, Johannes, Nizard, Yousef, Mohammad, Stas, Kamil, Francesco
*Missing in Action