When magic meets resilience
“Francesco, you need to go upfront and do some magic”. Hossam said this with all the gravitas and the charisma of a trusted captain, who saw its Unbibbed team struggling to secure the win.
The intense 6-side match was clearly at a key point.
The Unbibbed had been the better team, showing solidity in goal (Paride), defense (Hossam, Riccardo) and attack (Francesco, Marco, Andrea).
On the other side, the Bibs team (Johannes, Julien, Sara, Giancarlo, Hannes, Adam, Noah) suffered from various squad issue. For a start, they could not count on a proper goalkeeper, as TonyL precious right hand is now plastered to allow him to recover from last week’s injury (see photo below). To replace him they resorted to engage Hannes, who was at the pitch “only to watch”. Giancarlo joined late to try to find a missing post, and when Adam left early the only option was to replace him with a passer-by, young Noah.
Still, despite all these problems, they played and fought on every ball, constantly trying new geometries and testing Paride’s skills from every angle, and were able to level the score to 3-3.
After hearing his captain’s command, Francesco was quick to deliver. In a deadly counter-attack he find himself running towards the goal with only one defender (Johannes) in front, while his team-mate Marco was next to him, on his right side, ready to receive an easy assist.
For a second or two Francesco considered the possibility to pass the ball to Marco but in that moment he remembered the goal that Pippo Inzaghi scored against the Czech Republic during the 2006 World Cup (see video below, from 00:25) and decided to go for the same exact move. So he looked at Marco for enough time as to confuse Johannes but instead kept the ball, passed through him, and scored elegantly.
After Francesco’s goal, with the score on 4-3 for the Unbibs and little time to go, it was Sara to step up to the challenge doing her own magic. When the ball ended on her feet, just outside the box, she shot the ball straight in the upper corner with such power and precision that Paride could do nothing about it. This is the type of goal that we occasionally see done from the likes of Mohammed Salah and Ryad Mahrez, just executed better.
Once in golden goal territory, with the score on 4-4, both teams had their chances. But the Gods of Football had been so impressed by the Bibs’ resilience that decided they needed to win, and sent Julien to score the final goal.
Many players were nominated for the Player of the Match award, but when the jury issued its verdict, everyone was pleased. It was Sara who most deserved to collect the award, and not surprisingly the hashtag #SaraIsTheNewSalah went viral on twitter after the match.
With large gatherings likely to be banned from next week, and more and more people adopting practices of “social distancing”, many supporters wondered what impact it could have on the Football Dads. The answer of the Club is both responsible and reassuring: “The safety of our players and our supporters is our number one priority (…), but our passion for the beautiful game is as strong and contagious as a virus. As such, we will continue to play for as long as possible.”
Bibs-Unbibs 5-4
Teams
Bibs: Hannes, Giancarlo, Adam, Sara, Johannes, Julien, Noah
Unbibs: Francesco, Hossam, Andrea, Riccardo, Marco, Paride
Goals:
Bibs: Julien (2), Johannes (2), Sara (1)
Unbibs: Francesco (2), Andrea (1), Marco (1)
