The return of one-touch football
An impressive debut from rookie Gregorio contributes to a resounding 11-4 victory for the Colours.
The work of FD’s scouts keeps getting better and better, judging by the astonishing quality of the new players recently introduced to the team.
Today saw the debut of Gregorio, a young Italian spotted during the week by Hannes/Johannes and recruited for an undisclosed sum (pictured above with compatriots Riccardo, Francesco and Alessandro)
Having recently finished drama school and starting his career as an actor, Gregorio could have easily used his fresh acting skills to gain an unfair advantage—such as pretending to be fouled in the box to win a penalty.
Of course that would have gone against the FD spirit of fair play, but, also it would have been totally unnecessary. Instead he delivered a superb performance across the entire pitch, helping his Colours team secure a resounding 11-4 victory.
The secret of the Colours can be summarised with two words: “one-touch” (ok technically one word, as I wrote it with an hyphen). A winning strategy that allowed them to take the Bibs by surprise when attacking.
The best example of their magic was their third goal: after a solid build-up by Johannes and Chetan, the ball passed between Gregorio, Nizar, Arman and Julien all playing it with a first-touch bamboozling the Bibs defenders, with the Frenchman converting in goal, also with a first touch. Chapeau!
In goal for the Bibs, Tony stopped many attempts but was hammered by the firing power of the Colours. Back after a long absence, he was expecting a welcome-back-type-of-game, but instead got the full no-mercy treatment.
He felt so miserable at times that he moved away from the goal, going in midfield. A heroic feat that unfortunately backfired. When Gregorio captured the ball in his half, he sent a long shot that travelled for 60 meters before ending inside the unattended goal.
The only consolation for Tony was watching his son Arman’s brilliant runs down the left wing. The young Laskar has long ceased to be just a talisman and has now become a true champion, with skills second to none.
In fairness, the Bibs fought hard and were able to stay in the game for a good part of it. After having gone down 3-0, they managed to narrow the gap to 4-3. But in the second half of the game, they could only score one while the Colours netted 7 goals. No creative accounting or abstract algebra could reverse the result.
A very credible candidate for the Man of the Match Award was Bijan, who had played a phenomenally intense match for the Bibs. However, the extent of the defeat was too great to award him the prize, so the jury chose instead to recognise Gregorio for his exceptional debut.
In the week that saw FDs celebrate their 21st anniversary, it’s a joy to see that new players keep joining in and the franchise continue to prosper, knowing that, as Tony Bennett use to sing, “The Best Is Yet To Come”.
Colours-Bibs 11-4
COLOURS: Alessandro, Chetan, Johannes, Gregorio, Arman, Julien, Nizar, Thomas
BIBS: Tony, Bijan, Adam, Ishan, Francesco, Riccardo, AndreaM, JonathanD