Spring is coming, new balls and the unlikely use of mobile phone
Spring hasn’t yet officially started, but today it felt it’s almost here. A sunny day, clear sky, warm temperature and a light breeze welcomed the twenty players and legions of fans.
There were new faces (rookie Diego F, pictured on top, making an impressive debut despite playing with sneakers) and old ones: Adam, back on the pitch after more than one year of absence, and Jamal, last seen at last year’s Master Game, both in excellent shape and good spirit.
Luckily, the pitch had maintained the excellent conditions of last week (credit to them, the Royal Gardeners know their stuff!), and there was the added bonus of a brand new ball. Bright, well pumped, incredibly fast. I trust you are starting to get the picture.
“With Alessandro away, who is going to go in goal for the Bibs?”, Gary Lineker twitted in the morning. The answer was simple: obviously Paride, finally back on the pitch after the injury suffered in mid January.
Giancarlo took upon him the delicate task to assemble the Bibs team and was able to recruit both Yassin and Johannes, a combination as lethal as it sounds. However, he somehow neglected to select a pure striker. On the other side, the Colours had not one but two strikers, with Francesco and Jamal, and a very attacking midfield with Leo, Christian, Giacomo, Julian and Diego.
The Bibs were the first to score with Yassin, but their advantage didn’t last long. Using the wings smartly and moving the ball from one side of the pitch to the other with perfect Euclidean geometries, the Colours kept creating chances, testing Paride’s mental and physical shape. In the space of twenty minutes, they scored three goals in succession, getting to a comfortable 3-1 advantage.
The Bibs had less ball possession but remained dangerous in the rare occasions where they managed to get past Massimo’s defense. Tony L stopped a few attempts but couldn’t do anything when Yassin headed in goal a corner kick by Giancarlo. Now down one goal, the Bibs felt possible to get back in the game but the unexpected happened. Much to the horror of this teammates, Yassin stepped out of the game a couple of times to check his smartphone.
Rule #42 of the Football Dads ERB (Ethics Rule Book) states that the only reason a player can use a mobile phone during the match is to quickly take pictures or shoot videos of a game play. So what was he doing? It remains a mystery. Yassin was not sanctioned but his absence for a few minutes proved decisive, as it reduced the Bibs’ potential and allowed the Colours to score several times.
In the final minutes, the Bibs used all their remaining energies for a final attack and scored the best goal of the match (and possibly of the season) with Johannes. A missile shot with his left foot, straight into the upper corner of the goal. It was so powerful that if there was no net the ball would have probably ended in the Pond, or even broke a window in the Palace. But it was too late, and when Jamal scored the Golden Goal the match ended up with an undisputable victory of the Colours (9-6).
Many players deserved accolades. Johannes and Leo both scored a brace. Julian and Christian played superbly touching thousands of balls. But the Man of the Match award was assigned to Giacomo who didn’t score but delivered an amazing performance playing on the left wing.
Hanging around in the mixed zone after the match, Diego struggled to find the words to express his emotions. “When I saw the guys and asked if I could join the match I did not expect THAT…. I hadn’t played football for five years. Now I feel I need another five years to recover. Eventually he smiled and promised to be back “this time with proper boots.”
p.s. the ball is now gone. Somehow it managed to disappear from my bag in the time it took me to go from the pitch to the car park. Perhaps it fell out while I was too busy carrying the goal. Or maybe, just maybe, one of our fans took the ball as a precious memento. Honestly, how can we blame them? Either way, we are going to need a new one for the next week.
COLOURS-BIBS 9-6
GOALS
Bibs: Johannes (3)Yassin (2) Mohammed
Colours: Jamal, Leo (3), Khaled (2)Julian(2)