Italians rule the waves
All Andrea Agnelli and Florentino Perez had to do to figure out how a proper League work was to come and see a Football Dads (FDs) match. Yet this is not something that can easily be replicated: never the saying ‘They are in a league of their own’ is more appropriate than for FDs.
26 players locked horns under a beautiful sun with a dozen Italians throwing the gauntlet to the Rest Of the World (ROW).
Looking to just a few names among the latter squad it did look like a brave gesture to do but it is ‘those who dare who win’. Or was it ‘who cares who wins?’. The finale would not leave anyone in doubt about the answer.
The Italians could count on no less than four rookies with Federico, his son Giacomo with his young friends Luca and Leo (see top picture) None of these players came cheap and buying a lot of four in one shot goes a long way to show the Club firepower. Tony L was complementing the Azzurri playing in a defensive role bouncing everything thrown at him while Paride was back in goal celebrating in style a long awaited return.
No time was wasted in studying the enemy as a frantic tempo was instantly adopted by both teams with no one allowed the luxury of two touches on the ball. The Italians took the strategic decision to allow ROW to dominate possession in midfields while directing their flows on the flanks leveraging on the speed and skills of wingers like Leo and Giacomo supported in turns by Marco and Giuseppe with Federico and Tony covering their back and relaunching at every opportunity. In defence the towering presence of Luca was compounded by the authority of Filippo while Vincenzo didn’t hesitate to throw his body on the line when and where required.
The ROW German lot looked very menacing right from the start testing Paride few times with Diego, Julien, Hossam, Chris F and Victor also coming from behind with threatening penetrations and also providing aerial prowess on set pieces.
The youngsters on the pitch showed extra eagerness to prove themselves worth of the shirt they were wearing and it was Marco with a majestic shot to break the prolonged deadlock. The Italians flew on the wings of enthusiasm and hit the ROW defence with a double punch when Giuseppe planted a missile short in ROW net. The Azzurri smelt blood and went for the jugular when Marco scored with a curling shot a-la-Del Piero.
At 3-0 the Italians refused to indulge in early celebrations as they knew full well that the game could have still gone either way. The attacking by ROW was relentless and Paride came under intense fire from every position and distance. Some of his saves were miraculous and his reaction time unreal. The Bibbed kept trying regardless but all they could achieve was a goal from a header pushed in by Julian who settled the score at 3-1 for the Italians.
It is no surprise to find in such spirited game few candidates for the Man of the Match. Giacomo and Leo dominated the wings, Marco and Giuseppe delivered the goods again but no one more than Paride today made sure that victory stayed on the Italians’ side. What a comeback.
On the strikers front Marco with another brace is now leading the score line with 8 goals ahead of Yasin with 6.
ITALIANS v REST OF THE WORLD (ROW) 3-1
GOALS
ITALIANS: Marco (2), Giuseppe (1)
TEAMS
ITALIANS: Paride, Luca, Filippo, Tony L, Vincenzo, Federico, Giancarlo, Giuseppe, Giacomo, Marco, Andrea, Leo, Francesco
ROW: Alessandro, Chetan, Hannes, Andre’, Hossam, Julien, Philipp, Julian, Diego, Chris F, Jeremy T, Thomas, Victor