Orange put up a masterclass in the face of adversity as their star goalkeeper is injured. Orange-Colours 5-4

Before the game started Julien was posthumously handed last week hat trick ball as his three goals contribution was grossly omitted in the commentary. A drone would have not missed that but that’s an old story. In a gesture of goodwill the French then proceeded to loan the very ball back to the two teams so that operation could start on time with usual 20’ delay.

It was a full house with 25 players, each determined to jump up in joy at the final whistle and run in front of the stands to soak the jubilation of his own fans. Today a curious thing happened: a group of tourists ended up joining fans in the stands or hiding in the bushes. They were walking in the park and obviously stopped to watch the match: the tour guide urged them to resume the walk. Given the distance, it was difficult to understand what the group representative replied but lips readers claim it was: ‘ sorry but we rather watch the match!’, much to the annoyance of the guide who ordered them to move. To which the group representative, forming a small circle, told quietly to his mates:’ at my signal run and hide in the stands’. Which is exactly what happened.

Karim with rookied Dad Omaar

The game was graced by many young players, not rookies but not regulars either: the mix tested the commentator memory to its limited limit: there were two Jonathans and two Zacs on the pitch and they all looked the same…
Karim was handed the Amazon voucher, to be strictly spent on a vast catalogue of FDs memorabilia, for bringing a rookie Football Dad and no less than his own Dad Omar who, unlike his son, was on the winning side celebrating in style his debut with a sound performance. Omar is both from Lebanon and Germany which unfortunately are not new nations. I remind you that to strike gold you need to bring a new Dad from a new Nation but well done Karim for bringing his Dad who is welcome to the
magic world of FDs.

The rush in adrenaline was palpable at the very first kick with a very fine line dividing aggression from sportsmanship. Every player knew that crossing such line would have been forgiven if not praised by their fans with so much at stake. The goalkeepers, namely Paride and Tony answered the calls to arms which meant a tough day in the office for the strikers. Immediately the two guardians showcased their full repertoire which in turn gave confidence and strength to their defences.

Orange seemed to rely on a more compact unit with balanced compartments in quality and numbers so that the balls defended were quickly carried by midfield to the frontline where Oliviero and Jonathan L were often able to evade their markers’ attention with clever and surprising moves.

Jonathan R in front of defence, working closely with Gregorio and Julien, was the turbo in the engine incessantly conquering balls and feeding them through both midfield and attack. The fast and furious pace just suited Oliviero speedy moves and before Colours knew he had put three goals on the back of Paride’s net, not to mention some great saves by Paride himself.

On the opposite front the score was magnified by some spectacular saves made by Tony who was literally throwing his body on the line showing fans what they had missed. There was nothing he could do though when Zac R scored the first for Colours soon followed by a fantastic angled volley by Francesco bringing the score back in contention at 3-2 for Orange.

At which point a major accident happened when Tony and Al clashed in the small box. Tony saved a sure goal but didn’t save his own toe which was badly damaged.
Tony visit to A&E was followed live by an apprehensive crowd while Giancarlo replaced him in goal: you could have forgiven bookmarkers for frantically changing the odds on Orange retaining the lead as all of a sudden they were deprived of their main asset and with one man down. Not only that but after few minutes Orange were hit by another brick on the head when Oliviero had to leave the pitch due to injury. It was then decided to balance the new situation with young Daniel swapping side to join Orange who showed they were for real regardless the emergency. Defence stood strong around Hannes and Giancarlo produced few fine saves but could not stop a diabolical lob shot from the distance by Johannes. It looked like a lucky strike but the doubt whether he wanted to simply cross was legitimate as he does produce these wonder shots on a regular basis.
In the post match interview Johannes admitted the goal was unintended but it still counted.

Orange were nevertheless able to maintain the lead thanks to an opportunistic goal by Jonathan L taking the score to 4-3 before going into the golden goal.
Colours felt their time had come to take advantage of the situation and fired on all cylinders: it was again Dario who sealed parity with the golden goal but it was agreed that it would have been criminal and unfair to both teams, let alone the fans, to stop the game there and then. A senior golden goal was introduced and it was the Orange lynchpin, Gregorio who else?, to score to certify a memorable game for the Orange who never gave up in the face of adversity.

The Man of the Match was a heated contest. Perversely, after the double exit of Tony and Oliviero who dominated the stage till then, everyone stepped on the gas sensing that the trophy was back for grab again and multiplied the energy to claim it.
Yet the counting of the vote saw Tony prevailing by a comfortable margin as if voters wanted to underline both the value and scarcity of outstanding goalkeepers, strongly reiterated with his today’s half match performance. Included there was also and affectionate wish for him to recover quickly.
Tony enters the world record book of football by being the only ever winner of a full MOTM trophy with only half a match played. As we all know FDs is about, among others, rewriting football history.

The injury to such a high profile player has naturally given voice on socials to many diverging opinions and few proposals which, no doubt, won’t be ignored by the Board.
In particular it is felt that FDs over 60 should somehow enjoy some protection.
In fact the recent changing mix of the teams with Kids representing now around 2/3 of the players, roughly the opposite v recent years, had made the game a lot faster and aggressive increasing injuries as well as confrontations.

A panel of experts in geriatic football, retained by the CLUB, has shortlisted three proposals for Board’s consideration:
1) When a Dad receives the ball he should be given a 10’’ grace period to understand whom he is playing with and which direction to kick the ball.
2) Each Dad should be equipped with a teaser gun to legally keep at bay the most aggressive Kids
3) Few motorised wheelchairs fully equipped with self-defence systems should be available for distressed and abused Dads to be used during the game. Another one with AI facilities should replace injured Dads when subs are not available.

ORANGE-COLOURS 5-4
GOALS
ORANGE: Oliviero (3), Jonathan L, Gregorio
COLOURS: Zac R, Francesco, Johannes, Dario

TEAMS
ORANGE: Tony, Giancarlo, Hossam, Omar, Bijan, Gregorio, Zac L, Jonathan R, Julien, Jonathan L, Oliviero, Kieran
COLOURS: Paride, Andre’, Andrea, Daniel, Al, Joshua, Johannes, Karim, Dario, Zac R, Orian, Adam, Francesco