Italians play to restore national pride but succumb miserably
Sitting on their sofas on Thursday, Italians could not believe what they were seeing on their tv screens. The European champions had been unable to score a single goal, even when graciously handed the ball from the North Macedonia goalkeeper, and Donnarumma could not stop the only shot from their opponents, something Paride would catch while yawning.
The Azzurri are out of the World Cup, again. To make a comparison with something closer to us, it’s a bit like Dads losing 8 consecutive Master Games.
It was no surprise that this morning Massimo, Giancarlo and Francesco arrived on the pitch properly dressed, motivated to restore the national pride with an exceptional performance. However, creating an entire Azzurri proved to be impossible as no one else from the Belpaese was present. With Alessandro away in Rome, Paride recovering from elbow injury, and Christian exploring the Nicaraguan rain forest, the Italians lacked many of their key weapons. Even more problematic was the absence of kids.
“Where are our youngsters?” shouted Massimo upset. There was no sight of Giacomo, Leo, Marco, Andrea, to mention only some of them. They are probably still in shock at the idea of watching Qatar2022 as spectators, or perhaps recovering from an hangover.
The Azzurri team solved the problem by quickly recruiting Diego, Hossam, Yassin and Ali. On the other side, the Bibs team had strong mittelEuropean flavour, with Hannes, Johannes, Thomas, Andre, Julien, Daniel and Khaled.
The setup could not have been better. A gorgeous sunny day, the old pitch in very good condition, and a new ball. Even the goals appeared unusually straight.
Before the initial whistle the Azzurri discussed at length their strategy, failing to agree one. This is hardly surprisingly, Italians are known for being strongly opinionated about football tactics and players selection. Yesterday even Mancini’s mum criticised his sons, saying she would have put Balotelli on the pitch. Luckily, Hossam’s intervention stopped the debate assigning positions to every player so the match could start.
The first few minutes were encouraging for the Azzurri, with Francesco going close to score with a diving header on a long cross from Massimo, but it was just a flash in the pan.
Led by Khaled and Johannes in sumptuous form, the Bibs had very little difficulties in creating chances and scored a first one when Johannes sent a ball in the lower right corner. A second goal followed shortly. Then a third one. A fourth one. Fifth. Sixth.
What was going on? The Azzurri were creating chances and had gone very close to score in many occasions, but they lacked the necessary precision and cynicism in front of goal. A bit like Immobile or Berardi in Palermo. Perhaps the task of restoring pride was overwhelming them, or it was just bad luck.
A switch of player (Hannes for Giancarlo) gave the Azzurri new confidence, but the Bibs continued to score and when one shot from Hannes hit the bar, it was clear it wasn’t their day.
With victory out of discussion, the Azzurri threw all their energies to score at least one and finally got it when Diego brilliantly headed the ball in goal from a corner kick, fixing the score to something around 1-10. A meagre satisfaction, true, but a well deserved one. In consideration of the large score gap, calls for a Golden Goal were ignored, killing the remaining hopes of the Azzurri.
The Man of the Match award was handed ex-aequo to Johannes and Khaled, both unstoppable and authors of an unspecified number of goals, all of great quality.
After the match Massimo expressed disbelief and pessimism.”Perhaps I should stop playing” he whispered. But we know he wasn’t serious. A fighter like him doesn’t give up. Francesco remained positive and found a good reason to justify the loss “We couldn’t score because we were playing down hill. Next week it’s going to be a different story.”.
But ultimately, the idea of match Azzurri vs others was a flawed concept. The Football Dads thrive on their internationalism and love for the game. The only real competition is the intra-generational one: Dads vs Kids. You can lose a match, as long as it’s not the Master Game!
Talking about kids, watching from the stands dressed in a Chelsea outfit was Ramon, Diego’s 6-year son.
He looked carefully at every play and was seeing taking notes on his notebook. After the match, he replayed some of the actions, showing great control of the ball.
We look forward to see the day when he leaves the academy and start playing with us. I am already scared at the idea of playing against him in the 20th Master Game.