Late to the pitch, early on the ball: Oliviero shows impeccable sense of timing
Oliviero was once again one of the protagonists in Saturday’s match, scoring a brace to help his Colours team to the victory.
The young Italian showed everyone that time is a very relative concept, as Albert Einstein figured out a century ago. He had arrived late to the pitch (no news here), but as soon as he put his boots on, he was always first to the ball, creating havoc and headaches for the Oranges’ defence.
Next to him, Adam and Johannes formed a terrific attacking trio, each of them scoring a brace and pressing harder than ever.
This doesn’t mean that Colours had an easy life, far from it. The match remained evenly balanced for a long time, even though the Oranges had an extra man. A testament to the unique scheduling abilities of Hannes, back in his role as Lead Matchmaker and Chief Bibs Distributor.
The Oranges attacked relentlessly. Playing as an assist man, Francesco delivered some beautiful balls into the box, one of which was swiftly converted by Ross but his other attempts were met with unapologetic resistance from Hannes, Federico and Alessandro.
Federico appeared somewhat impaired by late partying (“too much beer last night” he confessed after the match), but was still able to block any attempt coming his way.
At the other end, Johannes scored a wonderful goal with a perfectly executed volley from an elegant cross by Adam. Such was its beauty that even Paride was seen clapping in admiration.
In the following minutes, perhaps struck by Stendhal syndrome, the Italian goalkeeper appeared confused on a couple of occasions, gifting two goals to the Colours. A decisive blow to the Orange’s hope.
The match continued with ferocious intensity. Now two goals down, the Oranges tried hard to exploit their extra man, with Bijan in the control room and AndreaM pushing forward, but their efforts lacked precision in the final touch.
With the score at 8–6 for the Colours, the Golden Goal could have given the Oranges a deserved consolation prize—but it was not to be. Fresh as a daisy, Oliviero (MOTM) had the energy and composure to dribble past a few opponents and send the ball into the top right corner of Paride’s goal with a brilliant long-range strike that followed a trajectory never seen before.
Not only time, even space is a relative concept when football is played at this level!
COLOURS
Alessandro, Cameron, Hannes, Federico, Oliviero (3), Adam (3), Johannes (3)
ORANGES
Paride, Andrea, Bijan (3), Hossam, Alastair, Jonathan, Francesco, Ross (3)