Paride saves the day as Colours hang on to a narrow victory: 9-8. Why Italy boycotted, yet again, the World Cup.

Now that Italy is out of the World Cup the hunt to sign and naturalise Italian players has officially started. In the forefront, in an effort to win the Cup that has been missing since 2002, there is Brazil, with the blessing of Carlo Ancelotti. Far more important for the successful outcome is the contribution of our very Brazilian star, Victor, who handed Giancarlo and Francesco two brand new fabulous Brazilian jerseys. Not by coincidence each and every player wearing the prestigious shirt, as shown in the pictures, had an excellent game.

Colours hit the ground running also thanks to the one man advantage. With the luxury of having Hossam and Bijan in defence, Colours knew they could afford playing a very aggressive 2-3-2 at the risk of exposing themselves to the deadly Orange counters aimed at the ever mobile and deadly strikers Adam and Oliviero.
The high pressure by the Colours paid immediate dividend. Giancarlo was back from a long absence and it showed at the beginning but when he moved up the pitch things improved, scoring also a goal. Dario and Francesco were the natural and prolific terminals with a hat trick each. Dario indulged in his love story with the ball but, as soon as team mates complained, he just put it in the bottom of the net, turning criticism into adulation.
Oliviero on the opposite side literally gave his blood (see pic) to try and keep Orange in the game scoring at every opportunity and mastering his skills to reduce the gap.

The arrival of Victor Jr was a turning point as Orange with a new solidity in defence, until then relying on Federico’s heroics, propelling the team into Colours’ half sorting , among others, the effect of galvanising Paride, Colours’ goalkeeper, into a countless number of amazing saves. Some bookmakers were ready to bet that neither the quality nor the number of them will be surpassed in the whole World Cup.
Soon the game was in contention with the gap reducing from five goals to two as Orange had fire in their feet. The only thing they hadn’t was more time as the 11.45 bell saw the score at 9-7 for Colours who looked like a boxer on the rope likely to win on points if the match ended right there. but it didn’t as the Golden Goal was up for grab: it looked like the Orange were like a pack of wolf eager to grab it.
In fact it was Francesco on the opposite side that, with a header reminiscent of Ronaldo’s one against Sampdoria,

almost scored but Alessandro, despite being wrong-footed, produced an incredible reaction save. The faster pace and better momentum of Orange ultimately materialised when Oliviero, who else?, decided no to risk an hemorrhage on his foot
and called it a day to hit the low left angle of Colours’ goal with a surgically aimed shot to leave Orange with the consolation of the golden goal after a glorious ‘remuntada’ was cut short only by time.
The game was also graced by the presence of Rookie Morteza from Afghanistan which is already in the count of our 72 NATIONS. Nevertheless we warmly welcome him: he proved to be and effective winger, good in both the defensive and attacking phase and was instrumental in Colours’ victory.

As for Man of the Match on the Orange side Andrea deserves to be mentioned: the Italian had an excellent game both defensively and, when attacking, he could both assist and score two goals. One of which he did by unleashing a terrific long range shot in the top corner that not even Paride could stop.

Hossam was his usual self: age adds on experience without detracting on speed and tackling ability.

Victor jr was a game changer when he joined the Orange.

Adam and Oliviero were the goal machines that we know and they are on the way to top the scoring record of Harry Kane and Luiz Diaz this season.

On the opposite side Dario mastered the right flank and scored a hat trick: his love story with the ball continues and is reciprocated at every match.

But the Man who Colours had to thank the most for taking home a victory that looked granted for most of the time but elusive toward the end, was their keeper Paride. There was not a single part of his body that was not deployed in the supreme mission of saving Orange victory from the fast and furious Colours’ attacks. Donnarumma is not a bad keeper but with Paride in goal Italy would have entered the World Cup by the main door.

Talking of which I have taken sometime to write about Italy and the World Cup so to have all the facts. The conclusion is natural: Italy has successfully boycotted for the third consecutive time the biggest football tournament on earth exclusively on moral grounds.

The inability of FIFA to bring the competition back to its pristine values of sportsmanship and fairness left the Italians with no choice. The presentation to Trump of the peace Nobel prize is only the most embarrassing but the least damaging of their many mishandlings.

Italy could have simply walked away from it but would have incurred the wreath and the sanctions of FIFA. By making it look like an accident (read defeat by Bosnia) Italy reached the objective to deprive the World Cup of its most prestigious member without having to pay the price of an official boycott. Besides, Italy has always been in favour of a more democratic representation in the World Cup: to give Sweden (2018), North Macedonia (2022) and now Bosnia a chance to be in there, is a heavy, yet necessary sacrifice to stay loyal to its principles.

Before the World Cup tournament even starts we can proudly say Italy is the moral winner as no one has had the guts to boycott the World Cup for three consecutive times.

And it gets even better: Italy has publicly stated that if FIFA won’t act decisively in the next four years against all that is wrong in football, they will consider boycotting also the next tournament for an unprecedented fourth time.

Never in the history of football one Nation has sacrificed so much for the benefit of the other members. Italy with a tally of 7 World Cups, four as winner and three as moral winner, is the undisputed beacon in the dark world of football.

Please join me in applauding Italy and wishing everyone could live up to its standards.

COLOURS-ORANGE 9-8

GOALS

COLOURS: Dario (4), Francesco (2), Bijan (2), Giancarlo

ORANGE: Oliviero (4), Andrea (2), Adam (2)

TEAMS

COLOURS: Paride, Hossam, Victor Sr, Bijan, Morteza, Giancarlo, Dario, Francesco

ORANGE: Alessandro, Federico, Andrea, Victor Jr, Davide, Anton, Adam, Oliviero