The Fab Five and the sleeping fan
It was an exclusive gathering. Like if many were eager to join but only the Fab Five (see pic) were invited: Hossam, Giancarlo, Thomas, Johannes and Chetan made the most of the intimate game played on a rotating 2 v 2 with one keeper in one goal only . The offline rule applied to make players work hard for their goals.
The number of players was more than enough and The CLUB rule that ‘wherever and whenever there are at least two FDs there and then there is a game’ fully applied.
One main national newspaper hinted at a conspiracy theory: The Club is averaging up the squad ahead of the World Cup to take maximum advantage of the wild cards handed to Giancarlo for FDs by Gianni Infantino three years ago. In fairness the absence of key players like Yassin and Francesco would derail such theory: on the other hand neither the Club nor fans would ever condone choosing holidays ahead of any Saturday game.
The Club was at pain to explain a PR disaster in the Friday ‘Football as usual’ message which was sent to the wrong chat: the culprit has been promptly identified and properly fined. This coming Saturday it will indeed be Football as usual.
When approaching the pitch the Fab Five bumped into an early fan (see pic) who arrived the evening before and slept on the ground to secure a front row spot.The line between fan and fanatic is a thin one when it comes to FDs…
Playing two a side is physically very demanding: you are 50% of your team and when you let your teammate down half of the squad is in trouble: the Fab Five though knew how to manage their energies to the maximum efficiency with text book moves and passes which produced an ever flowing game no fan on the stand would ever tire of. An increasing number of supporters now bring pen and paper to take notes.
In the end there some six such games played best of three goals. Giancarlo opened and closed the score with the golden goal while Johannes turned out to be the most prolific with four, ahead of Giancarlo three, Thomas two and Chetan one.
And now a key debate: as the top scorer award at the end of the year brings fame and money, it is vital that it is assessed in the fairest way: shall goals like today with only few players count?
When interviewed at the end of the match Giancarlo was asked when he last scored an hat trick like he did today. The Club IT team is working relentlessly to find the answer but the lack of computing devices at that time is making the search difficult. The IT team has now resigned to the idea of having to give up their holiday to fulfil the task.
The Man of the Match award seemed to be a matter between the default choice of Johannes and Hossam with the addition of Giancarlo : the latter found the fine, green and thick grass a bonus for his passing and shooting skills. But voters knew it better: Thomas was rewarded instead: for his goalkeeping magic denying multiple goals and then, despite missing some early goals, for his ability to turn frustration into focus scoring a brace with required dribbling skills, speed and precision.