Soccermania reaches Kensington Gardens

Young newyorkers Macpherson and William could barely contain their excitement. They had travelled 3,500 miles with their parents to fulfil their dream of watching the Football Dads play, and now that they were on the sacred turf of Kensington Palace they had been unceremoniously invited to play with them. Talk about dreams coming true.

The two brothers took place in a robust Orange team and were given a welcome talk by his captain Hannes. We are not sure what he said, but by the look on the kids’ faces it wasn’t “Please treat your opponents very gently” or “Remember, it’s important to participate, not to win”.

Also in the same team was Endi, returning back to play after a while.  He took little time to show us what we missed. Flanked by Bijan and Alessandro, he took command of midfield and scored twice in the space of ten minutes.

In the Colours team Andrea was trying to do a similar job, supported by Arman and Al on the wings. Few chances were created (and wasted), but it was the Orange team to score again. When Hannes was awarded a free kick just outside the border, he had no hesitations to take it and shot in the upper corner with the precision of Andrea Pirlo and the power of Francesco Totti. Impossible to stop.

After the Colours scored two more (5-0), it was clear that a rebalancing was needed. Hannes’ generous offer to switch side was greeted with suspicion by Francesco who instead proposed a more pragmatic player swap. Endi’s market value had increased 200% since the start of the match, but after a frantic negotiation, the Oranges managed to get him in exchange for Al and an undisclosed sum.

Finally in the same team, Andrea and Endi could leverage the chemistry built over many years at school together trying all possible tricks to avoid Saturday detentions.  Their interplay gave the Oranges the boost they needed.

Taking a ball in midfield, Endi  easily passed through two opponents and shot in goal from a distance with such power and precision that TonyL could do nothing to stop it.  A goal that looked suspiciously similar to the one scored yesterday in Leicester by his young cousin own Anis who plays professionally for Bristol City and has already won caps for the Albanian national team.

😮 Let’s take another look at that @BristolCity winner!#EFL | #SkyBetChampionship pic.twitter.com/vlUXitDrOf

— Sky Bet Championship (@SkyBetChamp) March 30, 2024

Realising that Oranges were now more dangerous, the Colours attempted to keep the lead sending Paride in attack and pushing hard, but they opened themselves to furious counterattacks from the Oranges, who managed to score seven more times, fixing the score at a comfortable 8-5. We had seen remuntadas before, but this was quite remarkable.

Endi took home the Man Of The Match Award, having scored a brace for both teams and demonstrated an impact not seen since the days Kakà joined AC Milan.

Macpherson and William (pictured on top with Arman) were so happy that they asked their parents to permanently move to London so they can play with us every week.

We are not sure this is an option, but somehow we suspect we are going to see them again in the future, or perhaps we should think about opening a New York branch called the Soccer Dads.

Central Park might not have the royal pedigree of Hyde Park but I can picture us playing there!

COLOUR-ORANGE 8-5

COLOURS: TonyL, AndreaR, Francesco, AndreaM, Keith, Arman, Al, (Endi)
ORANGE: Paride, Hannes, Alessandro, Bijan, Endi, Macpherson, William, (Al)