Master Game 10: “Heroes of Hayes” restore Dads’ pride with an extraordinary win
The 2024 UK Rich List will no doubt be dominated by those punters who were brave enough to bet on Dads winning the Master Game 10. The Kids’ winning streak was intimidating: 8-0, 4-3, 4-2, 7-3. To witness a Dads’ victory you had to go back four years with a meagre 2-1 .The clock ticking loudly against Dads did not vouch for any obvious comeback any time soon. The odds were such that any meaningful amount of money on Dads to win would have turned you in an overnight millionaire, should the unthinkable have happened.
There were unsubstantiated reports of Kids, soon after seeing the teams lists, resorting to black humour: ‘This is not fun anymore!’, ‘We should mix the team to have a balanced game’, ‘At least I will have time for a nice sun tan’, ‘Can we stop at 10 goals and go for a pizza before half time?’.
All of these banters only served the purpose to fire up Dads in the conviction that they would do whatever it took to clinch victory and avoid past humiliations. If recent history repeated itself few Dads were resolute to catch the next flight at nearby Heathrow and never show up their face again.
The preparation to the game was maniacal with Giancarlo coming out of retirement to devise with Francesco a master strategy for Master Game with no resources spared. ‘Is better an idiot with a plan than a genius without it’ goes the saying. If then such plan is very meticulously elaborated by a group of well functioning football brains, impossible is nothing. Not a single move in the 90’ of the match had not been obsessively rehearsed until it came out automatically yet naturally. The amount and the quality of such critical information to conduct the battle concentrated is such a tiny piece of paper would have had someone like Napoleon a couple of centuries ago avoiding defeat at Waterloo. But Football Dads were not there at the time…
Kids on the other side had plenty of ammunitions but were critically lacking four main pillars: Johannes, the lynchpin; Adam G, the faster Musiala; Giuseppe, the ever mobile striker and yet again Paride, the safest pair of hands money can buy.
‘What better things did they have to do on the day?’ That was the recurring, unanswered question hanging over the Kids’ fans who nevertheless kept supporting their young team no matter what. In fact, it was still a scary line up with household names who grew through the ranks over the years: Andrea R, Marco, Sara, Federico T, Diego, Giacomo and promising super youngsters like Arman.
Dads had to reinvent the back line due to the absence of the two most rated central defenders, Hannes and Massimo and with Chetan available only for the first half, as he had to fulfil his cricket obligations. Julian and Giancarlo stepped up to the challenge and with Hossam directing operations, Thomas, Chetan and Diego on the flanks they built up brick by brick an impassable wall that stood the test of the young hordes coming from every side.
Yassin was handed the keys of midfield but in fact he marked the whole territory well supported by Mohammad and Julien. The three-pronged attack had the ever prolific Daoud with Nizard on the left and Francesco on the right operating as a deadly unit at times as isolated snipers, others with coordinated fire, joined by Jonathan later.
The Dads’ machine was so well oiled and automated to be just a mean and lean war machine ruthlessly nipping in the bud any attempt by the Kids to counter a situation going from bad to worse. It never happened in the history of a final of this calibre that someone scored six consecutive goals: Daoud did and with Yassin adding one the Dads went to the changing rooms (which actually were there) with an unreal 7-0 score.
The chance for Dads to erase the bitter memory of a 8-0 annihilation was within touching distance but, after a fierce debate, it was decided to strengthen the Kids’ squad at half time by gifting them key players Tony who kept a clean sheet for the Dads (and Kids later), Dan and Kevin who graced Dads’ midfield in the second part of the first half. Also Kids were exceptionally allowed to field 12 players for the entire second half.
The resulting white wave would have swept away any team and in fact an early goal by Andrea and a brace by Giacomo send the crowd wild chanting ‘remuntada’ incessantly.
At 7-3 with half an hour to spare Kids had reason for hope but the old guard stood firm making sure that they could relieve defensive pressure with no less than four strikers ready to inflict pain on the counter.
This time the clock was ticking in favour of Dads who terminated the battle almost shocked, not fully grasping the enormity of their achievement, something they were reminded of by the jubilant fans invading the pitch, hugging and kissing every Dads’ player as if they were a mix of David Beckham and Brad Pitt. Some of them thought they could have not witnessed another Dads’ victory in their lifetime! The resulting emotion was collectively overwhelming.
There were three Men of the Match.
Daoud: there should be a rule that anyone who score six goals out of seven with a conversion ratio nearing 100% should be MOTM by default.
Yassin: he was the heart and soul of the team covering every role in every part of the pitch. Something that does not surprise us any more but the consistency is just unreal. I don’t know how much Messi is paid but whatever the amount surely Yassin deserves a multiple.
Julian: the German answered the double call of duty admirably both as a central defender first and as the Dads’ keeper after the reshuffle, killing any hope of the Kids to perpetrate a glorious remuntada. As unfortunately there was only one trophy voters on the margin rewarded Julian’s versatility on the day with nothing taken away from Daoud and Yassin.
A note of merit for the Referee, Ben, himself a star player, who conducted the game with authority and competence making justice of the bad habit of far too many players to scream abuse at the softest of touches. The game gained in fluency and virtually any fan on the stands was ecstatic to finally to see good value for their Champions League- Master Game package, something they could not claim just the night before…
Hayes, where the SkyEx stadium is located, is a small town and drivers along the M4 have no reason to associate the signpost with anything remarkable. Until today: from now on the ‘Heroes of Hayes’ will be forever remembered like that bunch of braves Dads fighting against all odds to conquer an unthinkable victory!
DADS-KIDS 7-3
GOALS
DADS: Daoud (6), Yassin
KIDS: Andrea, Giacomo (2)
TEAMS
DADS: Tony, Chetan, Thomas, Hossam, Diego, Giancarlo, Julian, Yassin, Julien, Mohammad, Kevin, Dan, Jonathan, Daoud, Francesco, Nizard
KIDS: Federico T, Riccardo, Alessandro R, Luca, Andrea R, Sara, Adam B, Matteo, Siad, Giacomo, Shiv,
Diego, Marco, Arman
write-up by Giancarlo Castelli