Is AI going to take the fun out of football? We have finally the 66th Nation
It never happened before that it took 75’ long minutes to score a goal. How could so many star strikers fire blank for so long? The answer my friend is in the team selections.
Algo at times did a questionable job producing unbalanced teams which had to be reshuffled half way through. It was than decided to support algo with AI, in turn supported by HI, that is Human Intelligence by Hossam and Hannes, to get the perfect equilibrium between two teams that seem to match each other in every respect.
There were many unquantifiable variables like no less than three Rookies: Jamie from South Korea, the welcome 66th Nation, Tim a German-Brazilian and James from Birmingham (not yet a Nation). Curiously all three of them played in a defensive role: they all did a good job indeed contributing to the longest clean sheet in FDs history. Something that won’t go unnoticed in their CV. Three were also the Super Kids involved: Arman and Victor, a double act on the right flank of the Orange team and Arkady in a more defensive role on the opposite front.
Luckily the 26 warriors could spread themselves over the full length of the pitch as there was no other around, apart from a record number of dogs paying regular visits to check if FDs stood for Football Dogs. Disappointed by the answer few retaliated by digging holes but most of them amicably took their seat on the stands barking their way through the match.
It is often said a goalless FD match can be more entertaining that a 5-4 premier league top game and today was no exception: needless to say, the wider new goals will NOT simply make strikers’ life any easier until you have keepers like Paride and Tony L to guard them. The game was so fluent as no one had the luxury of more that a couple of second on any idle ball: you either had to dribble or pass it quickly. Tiki Taka will never ever be a FDs think: aggression and speed make it a non-starter.
The first serious opportunity to break the ice came around the half hour when Giancarlo cut in half the Colours defence with a Tony Kroos type of penetrating pass for Thomas: the German managed to squeeze past few defenders but his shot went wide. As it turned out it was just a rehearsal for something bigger later on.
Games are often fought and won in midfield and today there was not a winner there as too many heavyweights cancelled each other out, like for example Kevin and Dan.
Daoud seemed, for the second consecutive game, to have moved back behind strikers feeding them with excellent passes but at the same time depriving his team of his lethal presence in front of goal. Francesco, Ziad and Kevin tried hard and kept the Orange defence on red alert but Hannes and Chetan denied access: their ability to read the game, shrug off pressure and always come out with the ball head high is something that got the crowd as excited as someone had scored a beautiful goal.
To match that you only had to move few yards away where Hossam with Andre’, Al and Bijan erected a barrier which the Orange striker found hard to knock down. Al and Bijan had a ‘Man of the Match’ performance all along as they defended impeccably and always provided support on the counter, when they did not initiated them with Andrea M linking in effectively between the Colours’ defence and attack.
Playing with his usual brio, AndreaR stunned everyone when he intercepted a goalkeeper kick and shot it without letting the ball touch the ground, going just above the post. What a goal it would have been. The deadlock continued.
At some point Daoud got injured: some reshuffle ensued but teams remained remarkably balanced. To unlock this kind game you needed some initiative by someone who can decide single handedly to make thing happen, a sort of coast to coaster who can cross undisturbed the pitch and either score directly or put the ball on a plate for his mates. It was option two as Johannes carried the ball all along the left flank and put it invitingly in the middle of the small box where Alessandro R with a deft touch finally beat Paride after 75’. The clock recording this new unbelievable record was stopped there and then and will soon be auctioned for a silly amount of money.
As it was already 11.45 and given how long it took to score one goal, there was excitement in the stands. In fact, it was feared that the golden goal would have not been a quick matter either: few fans rang their Wags to delay lunch only to call them back two minutes later when Thomas, yet again assisted by Johannes, scored one of the fastest golden goal on records.
The podium for the Man of the Match saw Bijan settling on the lower step, Al in the middle one while Johannes took the highest spot: a rare occasion where the top three candidates got there without scoring a goal among them: is this what AI is doing to Football?