Hannes gives it all (and gets plenty back)
The German spilled blood but couldn't stop the Colours team winning a tight game.
There are few certainties in life. One of these is knowing that Hannes will do everything to stop an opponent trying to score.
There was plenty of that in Saturday’s match, a tightly contested 11-a-side game played under a scorching sun and temperatures more typical of the Equator than London.
When he saw Julien kicking the ball towards the goal, Hannes threw his head to prevent that. A successful defensive move whose unfortunate by-product was a deep cut in his head.
The blood briefly turned the Palace pitch into a low-budget war movie, before Hannes’ well-trained platelets kicked in and stopped the bleeding.
Later on it was Francesco to test again Hannes’ determination. This time Hannes put his leg between the Italian striker’s boot and the ball. Another goal was avoided, and the memories of it will live for long in both players’ legs.
Despite such heroics, Hannes’ Orange teams went down 1-0 when Julien scored the first goal, and was never able to get the lead against a better organised Colours side.
Tactically, the Colours had taken an unusual decision: field Daoud as a midfielder rather than in his usual role as centre-forward. In this position, Daoud delivered an impressive performance, sending a number of inviting through-balls to his attacking partners Francesco, Morteza, Dario and Marco, unstoppable on the right wing.
To the Oranges’ credit, it should be noted that they played with one man less for most of the match, although the numbers kept fluctuating, as Juv and Jonathan left the pitch earlier.
When players parity was restored, the Colours found a way to regain the advantage offering a short-term contract to Kofi, a passer-by that had stopped to watch from the sideline, and had been helping to collect balls.
Wearing a Ghana national team shirt, Kofi appeared incredibly fit and eager to play, and didn’t have to be asked twice to join the party.
Kofi’s arrival brought new freshness to the Colours’ play, who could now count on a fast-running midfielder with the flair of a young Michael Essien although there were unintended health consequences with some female fans fainting when he decided to go shirt-less.
The Oranges finally managed to get an even number of players when Oliviero finally arrived on the pitch, in the middle of the second half.
Unfortunately, the young Italian was still hungover from what must have been a very long night and lacked his usual speed and precision. Still the Oranges remained in the game, drawing level at 4-4 and entering Golden Goal time just one goal down (5-4).
Eager to end with a positive result, they went all-in gaining a series of corner kicks and getting very close to score it. However, in doing so, they left ample space for the Colours’ counterattacks and eventually got punished.
Fresh from playing on the immaculate Brentford pitch for the annual UWL Staff-Student match, Francesco had struggled to readjust to the Palace’s more… demanding… surface. Usually reliable in controlling the ball, he had seen his touch betray him more than once, but when it mattered most he found the necessary clarity.
Receiving a clever assist from Morteza on the counterattack, Francesco suddenly found himself racing towards the last Orange defender, with the ball rolling perfectly halfway between the two players.
When he realised that the man standing between him and glory was not Hannes, he knew he had to go for it. He sprinted as if his life depended on it, reached the ball a fraction earlier and slid it into the net.
In the after match, while Daoud was recognised as Man of the Match and Kofi was busy answering calls from the Ghana national team manager, there was only one thing in the mind of each player: the Master Game in Wycombe in a week time. With every player just praying to be in Hannes’ team!
COLOURS-ORANGES 6-4
COLOURS
Daoud, Francesco, Bijan, Marco, Dario, Diego, Paride, Kofi, Julien, Morteza and more
ORANGES
Chetan, Hannes, Johannes, Kaan, Robbie, Giacomo, Andrea, Yuv, Ollie, Aurian and more